Within Ash and Snow
by BFTLandMWandSEK
Summary: Whenever Sadiq looked back at that time, he always would say that Alfred was the cause of everything. It was because of him he got into that fight with Lovino and because of that fight, he was being forced to "help" that messed-up Ivan kid before he hurt anyone else. Yes, it was completely the deadman's fault.
1. The Deal

**MW: **I just started "The Fanboy", I should not be doing another story at the same time.

**SEK: **But I like this idea.

**MW: **Me too. I was half way through planning TFB when this little plot bunny hit me and at Sisko's recommendation, I decided to actually write it. You might already notice that this is not a humor story, but me exercising my drama skills. And yes, I know that my third person writing skills suck, but the best way to improve is to keep on writing it.

**SEK: **Optimistic as usual. Anyways, I am Sisko, the proofreader and MidnasWolf is the author. A few more things: there really is no shipping in this story. Wolf has always wanted to write a bromance tale with some heterosexual side pairings and this is what it will be. There will be some dark themes later, so we might bump up the ratings, but this should be appropriate for most teens.

**MW: **Yup, so everyone, drop in a review and support this project.

**Name Guide**

Emilie Bonnefoy- Monaco

Carlos Machado- Cuba

Tim Van Rijin- Netherlands

Alice Van Rijin- Belgium

Lien Pham- Vietnam

Heinrich Beilschmidt- Holy Rome

**Note: Official humans names have been changed so that some characters can be related to each other (just last names)**

**EDIT: **Thanks to Sarpndo for pointing out a few grammar and spelling mistakes. And special thanks to Hetalia-Highs-and-Lows on tumblr for critiquing!

**Story Summary: **Sadiq, a delinquent on the verge of expulsion, is the last person anyone would chose to help another misguided teen. Ivan was the last person anyone would expect to be in the need of guiding. So how can these two be expected to save others without losing themselves?

**Chapter Summary: **How Alfred leads to the deal between Sadiq and Mr. Wang.

**Warnings: **Strong Language, Some Violence, and Alcohol and Drug References.

**Disclaimer: **I literally own nothing here. Heck, there aren't even any OCs in this.

* * *

**~Chapter 1~**

**The Deal **

* * *

It was exactly three months and ten days after the tragic death of Alfred F. Kirkland. His heart had long stopped beating and there was never to be a hope of his revival. Yet even in passing, he was the cause of everything.

The poor teen had been a star student, loved by all of his friends and peers. Half of the town could barely believe it when they read the headline the following day: LOCAL ATHLETE KILLED IN FIRE. According to the police, the fire was started in the forest behind the Kirkland family's home when a fourth of July firework set the dry brush on fire. "Poor kid," the town whispered. "Killed on his birthday."

His death never left their minds. Exactly three months and ten days after the incident, the kids around the local high school still whispered his name. "The death had been a murder," one girl said during her lunch. "I heard that a lot of people were jealous of him."

"No, someone wanted revenge for a bad grade Mr. Kirkland gave," her friend replied, throwing names around like trash. "Mr. Kirkland is the hardest English teacher in school after all."

Their constant talk kept Alfred's spirit alive as a ghost drifting down the halls- never seen, but always heard of. It was as if everyone was too afraid to forget about him, to imagine a world without the shining star of Alfred Kirkland's cocky smile.

With the image of a blonde teenager grinning broadly to a crowd of mourning citizens burned in his head, Sadiq felt no guilt for blaming Alfred for his predicament.

Unlike most of the student body, he did not pretend to know the boy. Yes, the brunette felt sympathy for those who did (mostly since his English teacher was Alfred's father), but that was as far as he went. The senior did not take time to recall the last 'life changing' moment he had with the would-be senior or the first time he saw him. No, he much preferred to send a sympathy card and move on with his pathetic life.

But somehow, exactly three months and ten days after the fire, Alfred was the reason for Sadiq to be sitting across his long time enemy Lovino Fernandez Carriedo in the hallway in front of the principal's office. For a dead man to be the cause of Lovino's swollen jaw was preposterous, but Sadiq treated the idea with easy care and logic.

He and Lovino grudgingly shared Mr. Kirkland's English class together. It was both of their senior years of high school and both of the tanned teens had done his best to forget about their previous brawls and just suffer together in silence. But high tensions, especially ones built on three years of rivalry, were easy to break.

Barely an hour earlier, the two teens had been sitting a few seats away from each other, trying to wrap their heads around _Macbeth,_when Lien Pham of the school council walked in. The whole English class had glanced from their text books and stared at her. Lien was a lean girl with a long, dark brown ponytail. Hanging off her toned arms was an Easter basket filled with a basket of scarves. Her brown eyes showed that she did not want to be there, but there no-nonsense glint seemed to groan "duties are duties- and who am I to disobey?"

Without smiling, she waited until Mr. Kirkland gave her to right away to make her announcement. When the sandy blonde man reluctantly nodded, she placed a forced smile on her lips and looked at the class. "The next football game of the season is coming up and as we all know, during this previous summer, our linebacker Alfred Kirkland had died. The school district has decided that this game will be his memorial one," she had told them as her basket slid down to her hands. Her voice was even, but Sadiq saw her knuckles turn white from nervous squeezing. "With the help of fundraising of the football team and many other clubs on campus, ASB is now able to give away free free scarves in his favorite colors- red, white, and blue." She turned to the teacher. "Mr. Kirkland, may I?"

Mr. Kirkland was seated at his desk with his face in his hands. His breathing was steady, but the air around his was shaking from unheard tears. Everyone knew that he was a hard man- always wrapped in the webs of his work. But he also prided himself in being a family man. The death of one of his three sons had made dark circles a permanent feature on his face. Everyone knew that he should not have been there.

But he was a hard man and no school administration could force him away. They tried to- they really did -but after the first month they let him back. Some said that he somehow fooled the grief therapist into thinking that he was alright. Others pointed out that the school had no budget and they could not afford to hire a substitute.

Sadiq thoroughly believed that Lien realized the effect of her words the moment she said them, but for the sake of looking professional, forced herself to keep pushing. When Mr. Kirkland did not answer, she continued her weak smile and started walking down the rows of desks and allowed each student to take the scarf of his choice. At first, Sadiq was tempted to decline. He rightfully hated the fact that ASB would be so inconsiderate of Mr. Kirkland's feelings, especially since his students disrespected Alfred enough by themselves. But then he saw his childhood friend, Emilie Bonnefoy.

She was a petite girl with long chestnut hair tied off his a braid and a red ribbon. Through her square glasses, her blue eyes shot him a challenging glare. It was a silent voice, reminding him that making a scene would only make things worse for himself. Sadiq ended up taking a red one off the stack and muttering a soft thanks.

Lien left soon enough and no problems were supposed to arise.

That is, until Lovino couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"It's stupid to keep doing shit like this," he had ranted, the last bell having rung and the whole school mingling in the hallways. He obviously meant for only his girlfriend, Alice, to hear, but his voice was so sharp that anyone within a ten foot radius could clearly hear him. "Can't those broads just let the asshole go on already?" he asked, ripping his red scarf in half and throwing it into the trashcan. "The fucker's dead and giving out crappy scarves wouldn't change anything."

Sadiq had not meant to get tangled up in the other's business. At first, the teen, tall and muscular with short curly brown hair and brown eyes, merely shook his head and buried his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Jackass. At least I can keep my thoughts to myself," he grumbled, low enough for only Emilie to hear. "He _better _shut up soon."

The girl walking besides him looked up at him and shrugged. Emilie said, "As long as you keep your hands to yourself, I really don't care."

Sadiq nodded. "Yeah, I under. . ." He trailed off. For just an instant, he had turned his eyes back to Mr. Kirkland's classroom. He was within Lovino's ten foot radius, lingering at the door of his classroom to greet his pupils for his after school tutoring secession. His green eyes continually flickered towards the loud teen's general direction, looking hurt before returning to his job. He heard him and Sadiq would bet that he probably saw what he did to the scarf as well.

The brunette felt his anger rise. He did secretly agree with him, but Sadiq knew how to hold his tongue. Lovino did not. Scuffing his toe on the dirty school floor, Sadiq suddenly remember the bargain he got into three years ago; his end require him to make Lovino's life miserable. It looked as though now was the time to go through with it. "Hold my bag," Sadiq ordered, shoving the black item into Emilie's hands.

Her eyes narrowed. "Sadiq, don't you-"

It was too late; he was already yanking on Lovino's shoulders. "What the hell do you think that you're doing?" He demanded as he glared down at the smaller man.

The shorter boy's lip curled as he jerked his shoulder away. "None of your business, asshole," he replied. "Now go away."

There was that moment, as Sadiq recounted later, where he seriously considered doing just that. Maybe it was Emilie's words still ringing inside of his head. Maybe it was the blonde Alice worriedly begged for him to "Please leave us alone." The junior girl was beautiful and Lovino- in Sadiq's opinion -was lucky to have her. Just looking at her with pleading green eyes made his grip loosen.

Sadiq was about to let him go.

Then Lovino gave him the middle finger.

Exactly three months and ten days after Alfred's death, Sadiq punched Lovino square in the jaw. That was how the two of them ended up under the judgment of the principle, glaring at each other as they waited for the principal, Mr. Wang, to calm Lovino's father down. He was so upset that they could hear his yelling clearly from the hallway outside of the office. The local college professor had just enough of their constant fights, which he claims Sadiq always caused. That was not necessarily true, but Sadiq was in no position to defend himself. His own father was supposed to do that, but that was impossible.

Simply impossible.

"You didn't have to fucking punch me." Lovino suddenly growled. Sadiq raised an eyebrow. The boy was sinking so low into his chair to the point where his lumbar back was touching the seat. If he didn't have to press an ice pack to his face, Sadiq was sure that he would be crossing his arms as well. "You could have just told me to shut up."

Sadiq rolled his brown eyes. "I did," he replied. "You just didn't listen."

Lovino pressed his lips together as a vein throbbed on his forehead. "Well if you didn't grab me, then maybe that wouldn't have happened."

His curt tone was only making Sadiq revisit his anger. Rising from his seat, he once again started to roll up his sleeves as he sneered, "Well if you weren't such a jackass-"

"Sadiq." He froze. Sadiq knew a lot of people- the majority of them were nothing but a pain in his backside. But there were a few that he liked. Emilie was a good example of that, but no matter how many times she scolded him, he could easily ignore her motherly advice. But out of every single friend or idiot that lived in the town, there was one person her never dared to cross: his younger brother's best friend, Kiku Wang.

The Asian boy stood by the door of the office, his bag hanging off his shoulder with a book held over his chest. His face was as stoic as usual, but his brown eyes were hard with discipline. Sadiq had to admire the way his quiet voice could command him. "_If only he could control Yao,"_he thought grimly. The boy's older, much jerkier brother was always a pain in his neck.

Slowly, Sadiq's shoulders dropped. He sighed, turned to the younger, and gave him a grin. "Hey Kiku, how you been?" He greeted, sweating with dread.

Kiku shook his head. "Sadiq, did you break the rules again?" he asked calmly. Calm, but dangerous.

Before he could answer, Lovino loudly huffed, "The bastard freaking punched me!"

As Sadiq shot him a glare, Kiku's released a long breath of air. "Please watch your language," Kiku ordered, voice never leaving a monotone. His victim glared at him again, but reluctantly closed his mouth and sank lower in his seat. Sadiq smirked triumphantly. He knew that there was a reason why he liked this kid. Kiku, meanwhile, turned back to Sadiq, asking, "Should I tell Heracles that you will be late returning home?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that would be really appreciated." The tanned boy grinned. "Remind me to bake you a cake for you birthday," he said.

"As long as you promise to not get yourself expelled." Sadiq's face fell into a frown. With the amount of times he had to sit in the chairs outside of the principle's interrogation room, he was amazed that he hasn't been handed a ticket on the next train out of there. Mr. Wang was sick of him and his counselor was the only person keeping him there. He had every right to fear expulsion.

Kiku lightly played with the corners of his book, saying, "Sadiq, you need to be a good example for Heracles. If you don't change everything around soon, I'm afraid that he's going to drop out."

Sadiq waved him off. "Heracles is a smart kid," he said carelessly, thinking of all the time his bratty younger brother had easily surpassed him in the subjects he struggled in. "He wouldn't do something like that."

Kiku's shoulders dropped. "Yes, but-"

The door to the office opened and Mr. Wang lead Lovino's thoroughly angered father outside, causing Kiku to respectfully close his mouth and stand to the side.

Lovino and his father did not look exactly alike. Mr. Fernandez Carriedo was much taller than his son with shining- usually happy -green eyes. Like his son, he was tan and had dark brown hair. But he was a full blood Spaniard, not the Spanish-Italian mix Lovino was. After smiling brightly at his son and promising to make him his favorite meal, Mr. Fernandez Carriedo ushered Lovino out into the hall.

He did not forget to send Sadiq and warning glare.

Sadiq sent on one back at him. He didn't think too highly of Lovino's father. The man gave Sadiq- at most -evil glares before letting whatever incident with Lovino drop. To Sadiq, that was not what being a parent was about.

Mr. Wang sent Sadiq a quick look, reminding him of the hole he dug himself. But instead of immediately sentencing Sadiq to his fate, the principal addressed his son. "Kiku, what are you doing here?" Mr. Wang tiredly asked.

Sadiq could not help but to note how similar he looked to his oldest son: Yao. They could have been twins, save for the fact that Mr. Wang had gray hairs littering his hair and the crow's gathering under his dark eyes. Yao was eighteen like Sadiq and looked as young as a fiddle and that was only brushing the subject. Sadiq could not begin to list the personality differences.

The second eldest son of the Wang family, Kiku, took his cue and stepped forward, saying, "Yao wanted me to tell you that he will be having dinner at Carlos's house tonight and will be home late."

"Sounds like him," Sadiq muttered, crossing his hands over his chest.

Mr. Wang gave him another look, silently reminding him to watch his tongue. Refusing to rip his eyes away, he said, "Kiku, you can tell Yao that the next time he wants to skip our family dinner, he can come and tell me himself." Sadiq opened his mouth. "And before you even think of speaking, Mr. Adnan, I would like to see you in my office first."

Sadiq smiled and carefully adjusted his jacket, making sure that the cloth laid perfectly over his torso. Then he slowly, very slowly, bent down and reached for his bag.

The principal tapped his foot. "_Now,_Mr Adnan."

Sadiq rolled his eyes, muttering, "Can't take a joke, can't you?" Mr. Wang pointed a finger in the direction his unruly student was supposed to walk in. "Alright, alright, I'm coming."

"Sadiq, can you please take this seriously," a voice from inside called. Sadiq knew that voice better than anyone's. It was the voice of the man that had an eternally rhythmic speech and nonchalant tone. It was the man who had kept him sane since freshman year. It was the greatest man Sadiq had ever known.

Instantly, he picked up the pace and quickly swung his backpack over his shoulder. "Yes Mr. Muhammed," he replied, hurriedly walking pass Mr. Wang and into his office. After so many visits to that room, it was only fair for Sadiq to have every inch of it memorized. He could walk in blind and know exactly where the walnut desk was sitting and the location of his usual chair in front of it. He would always be assured that Mr. Muhammed, a quiet and mysterious man with black hair, green eyes, and dark skin would be sitting right next to him, most likely giving him a disappointed look.

Heck, Sadiq was sure that if he was given the chance, he could flawlessly recite every single one of Mr. Wang's framed and hanged certificates.

"How have you been, Mr. Muhammed?" Sadiq asked, happily taking his seat. He made sure to give a small, expecting look a waiting child would give to his mother. "Has life been treating you well?"

Mr. Muhammed, in return, gave him a hard look. "Lately, no," he replied curtly. "Not only has my mother recently died, but my most frequent student has decided to cause trouble. Again."

"It was not my fault this time," the other defended. "Lovino was disrespecting the dead and I had to do something about it."

Sadiq would have completely forgotten about Mr. Wang and the heavy consequences of his actions if the principal hadn't said, "Which is the single reason why you are not being expelled." Having softly closed the door, Mr. Wang took a seat behind his desk. Sadiq stared at him, unsure that he had heard him right. Not being expelled . . .

For a long moment, Mr. Wang did nothing about stare at him with a look. That was of his many discipline tricks- looks. He knew that a simple look could make any man know the state of his situation and he made sure that all of students knew exactly what he expected of them and how much trouble they were in just by looking at his eyes.

Unfortunately for Sadiq, he could not, at that moment, read his principal's look. He wanted to say that he was absolutely furious with him, but there was a gentle glint in his brown eyes. Maybe he really could walk away with just a pat on the back this time. But that could not be right. After all, did he not just go through a series of disappointed and annoyed looks in the hall?

"According to Mr. Kirkland and multiple other students, Lovino was disrespecting Alfred when you told him to stop," Mr. Wang said. "After he refused, you punched him. Is this true?"

Sadiq resisted the urge to shrug- that would be a little too rebellious for the situation at hand. He was not about to say that he was thinking the exact same thing either. No, he had an opertunity to escape this fate and he was not going to miss it. So he said instead, "More or less, but you have the basic idea." Mr. Wang gave him an understandable look, one that told his to keep his mouth in check. Submissively, the teen lowered his head.

Mr. Muhammed's eyes flickered their attention between the two, so when Mr. Wang chose to continue his look instead of speaking, the counselor cleared his throat. "What we are trying to say is that since this was not as serious as your other incidents and that since you have done a very good job at keeping your GPA up, Mr. Wang and I our willing to let you off easy."

Sadiq couldn't believe his ears. He was going to be able to walk away with just a slap of the wrists? Mostly because he kicked his butt into studying? He could not help but to smile. At least he had a convincing argument to tell Heracles so that he would study more often. At most, he was going to be able to walk the halls another day. It was almost too good to be true. And he knew it.

His smile disappeared as quickly as it came. Frowning, he gave an untrusting look to his two elders. "What do you mean by 'letting off easy'?" he asked.

Mr. Wang ran a hand down his face, an action Sadiq knew to mean that he was thinking. He wanted to laugh and smack himself at the exact same time. "_That's kind of sad: I know the principal's body language."_

Sighing, the man looked at his student. "There is a . . . problem that Mr. Muhammed and I believe that you can help fix."

His frown only grew more defined. "What kind of problem?"

Mr. Wang turned his look to his colleague, silently asking him to take the wheel. It made sense- Gupta Muhammed was much better at getting his point across to Sadiq than the rest of the school staff. Mr. Muhammed nodded, folding his hands calming onto his lap. "Sadiq, Mr. Wang and I thoroughly believe that you can help us with another student."

"Mr. Wang actually believes in me?" Sadiq mocked as he resisted chuckling.

Mr. Muhammed shrugged, saying, "I had to convince him to-" Mr. Wang look turned into an offended one. "-But that is beside the point. The point is that there is a junior currently attending this school. His name is Ivan Braginsky. Have you heard of him?"

Sadiq thought about it for a moment, searching the files of his brain for the names of the little people he associated himself with before shaking his head. "No, I don't spend much time around underclassmen," he said.

The councilor nodded. "That is perfectly understandable." Sadiq grinned. That was one reason he liked Mr. Muhammed so much: he just agreed with most everything he said. He never gave him a "heart wrenching" speech about reaching out to other people. No, he just accepted him for who he was. The councilor fidgeted in his seat, continuing, "Ivan, in previous years, has been a star student. Good grades, good friends, and a star player on the hockey team. But at the start of this year, something happened and now he's at risk of failing every subject for this semester."

Sadiq's eyebrows furrowed. "So you want me to tutor him?" he asked. He knew that could not possibly be right. His grades were good, but he was no genius. He could name twenty people off the top of his head who would be more suited for tutoring Ivan than him.

"No, actually there is much more to it." Mr. Muhammed unconsciously played with the single piercing on his ear. That was another thing Sadiq liked about him: The piece of jewelry was a sign of youth, a possible rebellious stage he once had. It made him seem far more human than the rest of the adults who ran the school. "See here, Ivan- like you -had gotten himself into a fist fight earlier this week."

The teen blinked. "Oh yeah, I remember that," the he said, leaning into the principal's desk. He remembered talking to Emilie earlier during cooking class about it. All he had known was that some junior kid beaten some freshman by the soccer field. The poor sap's nose had unfortunately been broken before a teacher could break it up.

"Yes. Ivan was the attacker." The tanned man exchanged on last glance with Mr. Wang before reaching his original point. "Sadiq, this is Ivan's first offense. Both Mr. Wang and I believe that Ivan is a good boy and is only acting this way because of some personal problem we do not know about."

"We both believe that you can help Ivan in some way," Mr. Wang added, his look turning into that of persuading hope. "We do not care, Mr. Adnan, if you just tutor him in his failing subjects or try to help him with his problems. What we are trying to achieve here is to give Ivan a peer he can relate to, trust, and help him turn things around."

Sadiq them both a doubting look. "And you believe that I would be the best choice?"

Mr. Muhammed nodded, saying, "Yes. You are the only student I know to be capable of making a connection with him."

Sadiq pressed his lips and shook his head. "Look, I have no idea what you two have been smoking, but this is obviously going to end badly." Angrily, he rose and pulled his bag into his shoulder. "Get Emilie or something to do it because-"

Mr. Wang clapped his hands. "That's enough!" Reluctantly, Sadiq closed his mouth, though he did not resist giving a look of his own to his superior. It read of the high amounts of doubt and hatred he held for their plan. The black haired man frowned, not breaking his eye contact as he opened one of his desk drawers. "I can understand completely your feelings for this situation," he said simply. "I guess I was right, Mr. Muhammed. Mr. Adnan really would rather be expelled than help a fellow student."

Sadiq's mouth dropped, followed by his bag. "That's blackmail!"

"No, it's a choice," Mr. Muhammed gently motioned for Sadiq to return to his seat. "I know that you are not keen on doing this Sadiq, but I believe that you are far more capable than what you give yourself credit for," he said. "All you have to do is spend an hour after school every day and just talk or tutor or do whatever you plan on doing with him. Ivan is a good kid and he just needs a little guidance." His eyebrows quirked. "Please?"

Sadiq closed his eyes. It would be better than being expelled, but it might make more problems for him in the long run. What if Ivan did something worse while he was under his care? Would he be dragged and drowned with him? But being expelled would give the wrong impression to Heracles. By being expelled, Heracles might think that it would be okay to follow his example and screw his whole life up. As much as he hated to admit it, Sadiq knew that if his younger brother did that, he would blame himself forever. Heracles _had_ to get out of there and into a college. Plus, he had to stay to make sure his bargain was up hold or else. . . .

"I have work after school two days a week," Sadiq said, returning to his original seat. "If I am going to do this, then you need to explain to my bosses why I am going to have to be late."

Mr. Wang gave a smile that was far too happy for his comfort. "Well, where do you work, Sadiq?" he asked, practically jumping in his seat.

Sadiq winced. Great, now he was on one-way-first-name basis with his principal. Not a good spot to be in. "The Beilschmidt Dinner."

"I know the owners," Mr. Muhammed said. "Heinrich and Gilbert and very lenient with school matters. I'm sure that we can work something out."

The teen glanced at the clock. There was ten minutes before the buss bell rang (or as they are called; the school could not afford actual buses. The bell was just there to remind students to leave campus). He spent thirty minutes in Mr. Wang's clutches. Suddenly feeling itchy, Sadiq fidgeted in his seat, asking, "So when am I starting with whole session thing with Ivan?"

His counselor smiled. "Today."

"But I have work-"

"We'll work something out in time." Mr. Wang stood and was quick to follow him. "We very much appreciative of your effort," he said, leading Sadiq to his door. "You have just about ten minutes until the bell rings. Why don't you starting heading over there right now? Ivan should be waiting in J-45 for you."

Sadiq suddenly no longer felt so safe. Yes, he towered other the man and he knew that he would most likely win in any brawl against him, but he just said that Ivan would be _waiting_for him. He _knew_that one way or another, Sadiq was going to agree. How much of this did the old man have planned?

Just as said man started opening the door, Mr. Muhammed added one last detail. "And Sadiq? Because I would like updates on you and Ivan's relationship, we'll be meeting at lunch every now and then, okay?"

Sadiq shot his once trusted superior a glare as he took a free step into the hall. "That would be _completely_fine," he drawled sarcastically. "I can't wait."

Mr. Wang frowned. "Watch the attitude, Sadiq," he warned, waving a finger. His brown eyes flickered to someone behind him. "And I'll deal with _you _in a minute, Mr. Van Rijn."

Sadiq turned to see a longtime associate sitting in the chair he occupied earlier. He was tall- taller than he was -with pale skin and luring green eyes. His blonde hair looked as though it required a bottle of hair gel to style; his bangs were sticking up like telephone poles. He leaned in his chair, a blue and white knitted scarf around his neck as he wore a perfume that smelled of smoke. The teen smirked and replied smoothly, "And I shall forever be waiting for you longer."

"Attitude, Mr. Van Rijn."

He showed no sign of being discouraged. "I'll try, sir." Mr. Wang gave him one last glare before retreating back to his office, presumedly to continue talking with Mr. Muhammed. It wasn't until the door was completely shut did the teen sat up and stretched his arms. "Sadiq?" he asked with a chuckle. "Wow, I didn't know that you two were on a first name basis now."

"We're not, Tim," Sadiq growled, glaring down at him. "And if I were you, I would be concentrating on keep my nose out of other people's business."

Tim shrugged. Two of his fingers were pressed together and hovered dreamingly around his mouth. By the way Tim moved his wrist, Sadiq would say that he was craving a cigarette. "I heard that you and Lovino got into another fight," the blonde commented.

Sadiq sighed. "Yeah. I'm off the hook though. What about you?"

"Apparently, I brought drugs onto campus," he said. "But, as always, they are completely wrong. You would think that after the first twenty or so times, it would get through the administrations' heads that I am clean."

"_But you're a drug dealer,"_Sadiq added silently. He could never say it aloud- no one did. Every person at school, maybe even the town, knew that Timothy Van Rijn was the leading man in drugs. The police had been trying for years to find hard evidence to link him to the crime, but Tim was slick and knew exactly how to cover his tracks.

"But I do have to say, it's nice to know that someone beat up my sister's boyfriend without being asked first," Tim added, waving his fingers around. "I think that you might hate the punk as much as I do."

The brunette's eyes narrowed. "Don't forget our agreement," Sadiq growled. "You do and I'll-"

Tim chuckled. "Have no fear, Sadiq. I don't break my promises easily." Winking, he said, "Just make sure that you keep up your end."

Sadiq pressed his lips together. He was never going to win with that man. Without another word, he raised his chin and marched out of the office and into the main hallway. He swore that he heard Tim give one last goodbye, but the ringing bell made his words unrecognizable. By the time he had the door closed, the final students were rushing in the halls, talking and mostly ignoring him as they hurried to get home. A few spared an accusing look, but most were too consumed with the idea of freedom to bother. Sadiq sighed and leaned against the wall. He needed a moment to just relax and think.

In the end, he had another person to worry about. Not only did he have to fret over his brother, he now had to care for a guy he had never even met before. Crap, he needed to talk Emilie about Ivan. Maybe she would know-

"Sadiq!" And speak of the devil. Chuckling, Sadiq looked up and saw Emilie angrily marching down the halls to meet him Her eyebrows dipped behind her glasses and her black skirt fluttered around her. When she was less than a yard away, she said, "Can you please tell me that you are not expelled."

He shook his head, resisting the urge to right out laugh. For some reason, he could never take Emilie seriously when she was angry. Maybe it was the way the tips of her ears turned pink or how shrill her voice became. Maybe it was because she was a short girl trying to intimidate a tall boy like himself. Either way, he swallowed his mirth and replied, "Don't worry- you're still stuck with me."

She slapped him and a hot white pain stung on his cheek. Swearing, Sadiq placed a hand over the throbbing red area. "The hell was that for?" He yelled.

"I was worried!" She yelled back, stomping her small foot on the ground. "Do you actually believe that I would want you to be expelled?"

"Calm your tits, Emilie!"

"Not until you apologize!"

Sadiq took a deep breath, feeling the curious stares of the passing students. It has always been this way: she would boss him around as though she was his mother and he would resist, before eventually accepting her advice. It was irritating at times, but for the most part, Sadiq enjoyed the care she gave him. It was good to know that someone out there does. Regulating his breathing, Sadiq closed his eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Emilie," he said. "I know that it was stupid of me."

He could feel her smile in victory. "Thank you." His hand dropped back down to his side. "So if you were not expelled, then what punishment did Mr. Wang give you?" She asked. "I highly doubt that he would just let you off the hook for that."

Again, Sadiq sighed. He quickly recounted his bargain with the principal, watching as her clear head nod indifferently. When he finished, the majority of students were already outside in the early fall air, leaving the two of them in near solitude. Emilie lightly played with the end of her braid, humming as she thought. Sadiq practically held his breath as he waited for her advice. She always knew what to do. "I do not like this," she said at last. "How are you supposed to help someone you don't know?"

Sadiq slapped his sides. "That is exactly what I told them."

The girl shook her head. "Yes, but there is nothing that we can really do about it," she said. "The only thing I can say for sure is that you need to meet Ivan and see how bad he is."

He forced a grinned and clapped his hands together in a prayer, saying, "So it would be very helpful if you would come with-"

Emilie hissed in regret. "Sorry, but Dad is behind in grading papers," she said sincerely. "You know how he is."

Sadiq sighed and nodded. He understood completely. For as long as he had known Emilie, he has known her father, Francis Bonnefoy. The man was actually the school's cooking teacher, though he mostly put off grading his student's homework until a week or two before grading period. Most of the time, Emilie (and sometimes Sadiq) would help him. Francis Bonnefoy was Sadiq's first exposure to culinary arts, but the skills of cooking was the last thing on his mind.

"I'll see you later then," he said, waving her away. Emilie looked ready to say something else, but he was already walking away. Sadiq didn't turn around when he heard her finally leave, only smile at the soft sounds of her heels against the cheap marble floors. It was cute how small she was.

Sadiq kept his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he walked, humming to keep away the nervousness. He wanted to meander forever, but the J-hallway was close and he was soon standing in front of J-45. He stared at the door for a long moment. He seriously considered just ditching Ivan, but then he would be in more trouble than what he started in. And besides, Mr. Muhammed told him that Ivan was not a bad kid. He was probably just the standard 'misunderstood teenager'. He could handle that easily.

So when he opened the door, Sadiq did not expect to find the kid to be sitting on an empty desk in an empty classroom. Ivan was unforgettable with his large build and light brown hair. His neck was covered with a beige scarf that could cover half of his face. But it was pulled down so that he could drink from a plastic water bottle.

Except it wasn't water.

It was clear like it, but the strong smell was distinctly different.

It was alcohol.

* * *

**MW: **So here it is. It's shorter than what I usually write, but this is because third person takes me longer to do than first and I want updates to be quicker. Yeah so this will take me a little longer than usual to fully set up the plot, but it will happen. Just hang in there.

**SEK: **Also, Wolf and I love crack. So there are some characters that will be friends in this story even though they have never had any canon or historical interactions. It's fun.

So I have nothing left to say.

Please write a review!

**Next Chapter: **How Ivan and Sadiq's first meeting gets off on the wrong start.

**Remember to Review!**


	2. The Meeting

**MW: **And look! An update!

**SEK: **Didn't you just updated FB yesterday?

**MW: **Yeah . . . anyway, thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, watching, and reading. The only thing that I have to say about this chapter is that the side of me who wants to write long chapters is screaming that this chapter should have been part of chapter one. Oh well, it'll take me a little longer to get used to this.

**SEK: **I hope that everyone enjoys this and drops in a little input!

**EDIT: **Thank you Hetalia-Highs-and-Lows on tumblr for critiquing once again.

**Chapter Summary: **After Sadiq and Ivan's first meeting, Sadiq heads down to his job.

**Warnings: **Strong language and alcohol usage.

**Disclaimer: **None of this is mine! Well, the plot it but the characters all go to Himaruya Hidekaz.

* * *

**~Chapter 2~**

**The Meeting**

* * *

Sadiq stood stiffly at the door, staring at Ivan. That was vodka- there was no doubt about it. Ivan Braginski had somehow managed to bring a plastic bottle filled with vodka with him to school. And now he was drinking it as if it _wasn't _dangerous, as if it _wasn't _poison.

Alcohol did not go well with either of the Adnan boys. It made Sadiq's palms sweat to the point where even if he bothered to wipe them, a new thick coat would immediately replace it. The constant rubbing on his jeans made his logic dwindle and his head fuzzy. Ivan was drinking vodka. . .

"Who are you?" A part of Sadiq drifted back to the real world long enough for him to realize that Ivan was talking to him. The junior's thin lips were drawn in a tight line as he protectively held his bottle out of view.

Sadiq had to admit that he looked intimidating with his baggy jeans and worn brown coat, but he refused to let him win. Instead, he took a deep breath and straightened his back. "I was told that I was going to tutor you," he said, taking a step inside. Then another. He carefully turned around and closed the door. The stench seemed to grow stronger- So strong that Sadiq's feet grew even heavier with panic. He needed a window or a door or a hole to let fresh air in.

Ivan's accusing glare disappeared and his visage brightened dramatically. Happily, he placed the bottle on the ground and sat on the desk. "Mr. Muhammed told me that you would be coming," he gushed, sounding like a child. His tone made the tanned teen feel a little better, but not enough for his heart to calm. No, he could still hear his heartbeat throbbing loudly in his temple.

It cried 'danger', loud and strong. It screamed for Sadiq to turn around and run. But he knew that he couldn't- he had to stay.

He _had _to stay.

"So what's your name?" Ivan asked, resting his elbows on his knees.

Blinking, Sadiq cleared his throat and extended a hand. "I'm Sadiq Adnan."

Ivan looked at his hand and laughed. "You are very silly," he said, climbing off his desk. He walked towards his, saying, "Why would you give me your hand if I'm not close enough to take it?" He strongly took it and shook his warmly. Sadiq flinched- not at the pressure, but of his alcoholic breath as he spoke. "That is very rude."

There was a silence. Neither were quite sure what they were supposed to do next. So Ivan continued to shake the other's hand as Sadiq continued his attempt to bring back his senses. Slowly but surely, he started to process that if he said something, Ivan would back away and he could have enough time to open a window. Then that awful smell would be gone. The only thing stopping him was the fact that he had no idea what to say.

"So I'm supposed to tutor you, right?" Sadiq asked, gently pulling his hand away.

Ivan readily let it drop as he nodded, but Sadiq barely noticed him. He concentrated his feet on moving to the window. He was halfway there when Ivan added, "Yes, though I really don't need it."

He paused. That . . . that did not sound right. Ivan was supposed to be a delinquent and all the delinquents he knew did not deny help like that. People like Tim and Lovino would either carelessly or harshly declare that they were doing fine. Ivan, however, sounded more kind, as though he thoroughly believed it. It was like Ivan knew the facts and was only obediently repeating them. Lingering in his spot, he glanced back at the younger and asked, "What makes you say that?"

The taller shrugged. "I know all of the material; I just do not care for the work."

That made sense. Plus, it made things very convenient for Sadiq. Now all he had to do was convince this kid to do his homework, try harder on his tests, and all would be well. Sadiq glanced at the clock. He still had around forty minutes left in the session. That would be enough time to do exactly that.

Continuing his walk to the window, the teen buried his hands in his jacket, saying, "But homework is very important." When the window's latch was undone and the glass plane slid up, he felt his whole being relax. The fresh air washed down the alcohol and the pounding of his heart. Already feeling better, he took a seat in the desk right by it as he said, "Yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but what are you going to do?"

"Not do it." He scowled. Ivan laughed giddily and hopped back onto the desk. "But I don't want to talk about this," he selfishly declared, still chuckling at his response. "Let's do something else."

Sadiq's frown deepened. This guy had the mentality of a middle schooler. He wasn't sure whether that made him scarier or not. If anything, it made his beat-up story seem a lot more believable. To Sadiq, Ivan could possibly either be a sadistic creep who childishly enjoyed pain or another Lennie who was doomed to be shot. He sure did have the constant smile worthy for both.

Pushing his thoughts aside, Sadiq leaned back and placed his hands behind his head. For now, it would be better to just play his game. "Okay, what do you want to do then?" he asked.

Ivan shrugged. "I don't know."

The brunette resisted a groan. Forty minutes- he only had forty minutes left to go. "Let's play 'Questions' then," he decided. "I ask you one and then you can ask me one, okay?" The other eagerly nodded, happy to have any game. "Alright then, how many people are in your family?"

"Three," Ivan replied happily. "There's my younger and older sister. Mom and Dad are somewhere in Europe right now."

Sadiq's eyebrows furrowed. Already breaking his rules, he asked, "Why?"

"They teach an internationally competing ballet studio in New York. When my older sister was offered a job at the university, they had Nat and I come with her so that someone can take care of us while they travel."

He looked down enviously. "Sounds as though they really care," he said bitterly.

Ivan shrugged. "Like I said, they're out of the country a lot so I really don't get to see them very often. What about you?" He asked. "Who's in your family?"

Sadiq mentally swore, but told himself to be calm. After all, this was his game anyways. As long as Ivan stayed away from certain subjects, this would be nothing but a mere inconvenience. "I have a brother and a father," he said quickly. "Next question: where is your favorite place to go?"

There should have been a moment of thought put into his answer, a small glance upward to retrieve the memory. But Ivan didn't think. Instead, he immediately answered, "The west side of the lake."

Sadiq raised an eyebrow. The lake- as everyone called it -was a few miles down the old country road out of town. It was a popular social place for people of all ages. The police hated it since they always had to bust a multiple teen parties at one of the many nearby cabins. Sadiq, like most people, did not know what Ivan meant by 'the west side.' Breaking his rules a second time, he leaned back further in his chair and asked, "What's there?"

Luckily, the other teen was all too ready to answer. "There's the community garden," he said. That, Sadiq had heard of. "My sisters and I plotted a field and we grew two whole rows of sunflowers."

"Do you like sunflowers?"

"More than anything in the world."

"Why?"

Ivan lightly tapped his chin. "I think it's time I ask you a few questions," he said as he slid off the desk. "Here's one: do you really care about what I think of a bunch of silly flowers?"

Sadiq didn't believe what he just saw. In an instance, Ivan's expression had turned hard and he was sending off a hateful vibe. Sweat prickled on the back of his neck. That was not according to plan- how did Ivan suddenly turn the tables like that? How the heck was Sadiq supposed to answer that?

Maybe he could consider it a blessing that he didn't have to, but with the growl that left Ivan's throat made that impossible. "Of course you don't care," Ivan said lowly. "All you want to know is the quickest way out of here."

"That's not true-

"Then why do you keep looking at the clock?" Ivan marched over to his previous desk and picked his plastic bottle off the ground. "I do not care that you want to get away from me," he said, unscrewing the cap. The plastic crackled under his strong grip. "What I do care about is that you sit far away from me as if I am a monster. So tell me, Adnan, am I a monster?"

Sadiq glared at the vodka. "Alcohol is a disease," he said in an equally low manner.

"Alcohol is an escape." Ivan swung it to his lips and took a long drink. Sadiq cringed and hurried out of his seat. He had enough- he did not care what the consequences would be, he just _had _to get out of there. He barely had his bag over his shoulder when Ivan ran his sleeve over his mouth, saying, "I have heard of you, Adnan. You're the guy who always crosses that Lovino guy. Why bother with him? There is nothing to be gained."

Sadiq pressed his lips and took a long breath. He sharply turned back to Ivan and told him, "I see a profit and that's that."

"What kind of profit, hm? Do you take pleasure in victimizing the weak?"

He marched right up to him and jabbed a finger in his face, sneering, "Do you? You're the one who beat up a freshman."

Ivan laughed hollowly. "That just proves that neither one of us are fit for good." Sadiq flinched, a huge breath of alcohol suffocating him. He did his best not to show it, but Ivan read his body and took it differently. "I guess you're just now coming to terms with that fact," he said. The teen held out his drink. "Here, have some vodka. It soothes the pain."

Sadiq didn't think. His body seemed to move on its own accord when his hand shot out and knocked the bottle out of his grasp. The plastic landed on the tiled floor and the poison created a lake at their feet. "Get that shit out of my face!" He yelled, tanned hands grabbed the taller teen's collar and pulled him down. Their faces were barely touching.

With furrowed eyebrows and crinkled nostrils, he spat, "Listen here, jackass. I am not you. I will never be like you fuckers who think that's okay. Now I suggest that you take your bullshit and go piss off somewhere. Just stay the fuck away from me."

Ivan's light eyes looked down at the mess at his feet. His expression was wistful, like he was not being held captive by a fellow delinquent. "That's a lot of wasted vodka," he sighed. "That's sad- it keeps me warm when it snows."

The attacker growled before shoving the younger away. "I'm reporting you to Mr. Wang," he declared before he turned on his heels and marched away.

He barely had his hand on the knob when Ivan called out, "I know about your deal, Adnan. I know that you were forced into doing this. So tell me: if I am expelled, what would happen to you? Do you really think that Mr. Wang would keep you here any longer? The old man would kick you out on the next screw up you make."

He turned and threw his arms up in the air. "Well then, I better not screw up."

Ivan scratched his forehead. "I thought you saw profit in hurting that Lovino kid," he said nonchalantly. "Isn't that 'screwing up?'"

Sadiq opened his mouth before closing it again. The younger was right and he knew it. Stomping his foot on the ground, he slammed the door opened and stormed out. His feet only moved faster when Ivan started laughing. "_That fucking creep," _he thought fiercely, trying to get himself as far away from Ivan as possible. He turned down a stair case and pounded his feet loudly down the steps. "_I swear to God, next time, I'll-" _

He forced himself to stop. Leaning against the railing, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "_Calm down, Sadiq. Emilie wouldn't want you to do that." _His anger seemed to grow a little bit softer. "_That's right- Emilie would kill you if you screwed up again." _With his emotions on a tight leash, Sadiq readjusted his bag and continued his climb downwards. May be if he hurried, he wouldn't have to be late for work. He would hate to think what his bosses would do once they discovered his new schedule.

His foot had barely touched the bottom step when he ran smack into someone. "Shit!" He swore, stopping his fall on the rail. When he registered that he was not falling, he looked at the girl he had crashed right into. She was younger than he was, wearing a navy blue skirt, leggings, and a matching sweater. Her flawless face looked cute with her large blue eyes and blond hair pulled back by a bow. She was on the ground, hissing at her pained backside. All around her were the spilled contents of her shoulder bag.

"I am so sorry," Sadiq apologized, kneeling to gather her stuff back together. "I wasn't looking where I was-"

"Just hand me my stuff," the girl harshly growled. He stared. How did those adorable eyes of hers suddenly grow so fierce? "Hey, are you deaf or something?" Sadiq bit back whatever comment he had and quickly stacked her freed notebooks. To her credit, she did help by gathering the contents of her spilled pencil case.

Luckily, she did not carry many things with her, so the task was easy. Sadiq, nearly done with his work, frowned at the way she frustrated jammed her pencils back in place. "Calm down," he ordered, fixing the cover of the last notebook. "It's not the end of the world."

The girl looked at him and curled her lip. "Whatever, just give me that." She snatched the notebooks and stuffed them back into her bag.

Sadiq wanted to be rude to her, snap at her to get some manners. But after what happened with Ivan, he would rather spend his energy being nice to people. So he sighed, rose to his feet, and outstretched a hand. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again.

Her hands ran through her bright blonde, nearly silver hair. "I'm perfectly fine," she spat. Sadiq released another breath before hold his hand closer to her. The girl groaned, but by the way she eagerly took it, Sadiq could tell that it was an act. She muttered a thanks as he pulled her up.

Immediately after, she yanked her hand back and pulled her sweater sleeve closer to her wrist. "_Why would she do that?" _Sadiq wondered, watching her protectively hold the arm behind her back.

"So what's your name?" she asked as she continued sending him a hateful glare.

He forced himself to break his gaze and look at her face. "I'm Sadiq."

"Natalya Braginski." Sadiq suddenly felt like a huge idiot. Ivan mentioned that one of his sisters was named Nat. He wanted to groan at his luck. He just got into a major argument with Ivan and now he was with his hated little sister. The world must have hated him today.

Natalya have him an annoyed look, asking, "What? Is there a problem?"

Sadiq quickly shook his head. "No, there isn't-"

Her eyes narrowed. "It's because I was Alfred's girlfriend, isn't it?" He stared. The brunette had heard that the dead kid had one, but for it to be this girl? She seemed rather hostile to be the lover interest of someone who is said to have been chirpy.

"I sorry for your-"

"I don't need any of your condolences," she quickly said. Sadiq bit his lip. Was this some sort of grief process or something? It seemed as though the very mention of Alfred was making her want to strangle someone. Like him. Natalya's eyes drifted behind Sadiq and her frown loosened. "There you are, Ivan-" Sadiq stiffened. "-What took you so long?"

A large hand appeared on the teen's shoulders. "I was cleaning up a mess," Ivan replied from behind. "Was Adnan giving you any trouble, Nat?"

Sadiq pushed his hand away. "We were just talking," he said, feeling the need to hit the junior once again. Ivan did not bother to blink when Sadiq sent him a cold glare. They held their gazes for a long while before one relented. Sadiq turned on his heels and shoved past Natalya, saying, "Excuse me, I have to go now."

He told himself that he would not pause for anything, no matter what was yelled, but that did not matter. Neither Ivan nor Natalya called out for him to stop. No, Sadiq walked uninterrupted out of the school building and to the practically deserted street.

Sadiq's town was a suburb to the big city miles down the old country road. Many people commuted there for their jobs, only returning to sleep in their newly built houses. It was a detail that reflected greatly on how the town worked- fast but relaxed.

The high school, the only one in the area, had two large fields for playing sports and an old stadium for football. Surrounding the backside was the forest, stretching on endlessly in a cool and peaceful manner. The street that Sadiq walked down had one or two houses every few hundred feet with trees filling in the gaps. Most of them were pine, forcing the few maple trees to fill the autumn scenery with rich shades of yellow, red, and brown.

The walk to the Beilschmidt Dinner was a long one and Sadiq spent the entire time listening to the rhythmic crunching of dead leaves under his feet. He had to admit, the thirty minute walk down country roads and houses was difficult, but it was much worse during the winter. Then, snow would be on the ground and weigh his feet down like rocks.

A few times, Sadiq considered texting Emilie and asking how she was doing, but his hands never left his pocket to do so. The air was cool and he was afraid that his fingers would turn blue again if he was not careful. He shuddered at the thought of frostbite. He had it once when he was little and it was a painful experience he would prefer not repeating.

He was little when it happened. He had been watching the back of the woman that never once turned back to look at him. He could remember it clearly: sitting in the bitter cold snow, watching her walk as he held Heracles. He sat there for hours, wondering why she would not turn around, even when his little brother was crying. And as the tips of his fingers slowly turned blue, he watched his once precious, once lucky blue beads as they were drowned by the falling snow.

Snow that would just fall and fall and fall.

"_Don't think about that," _he ordered himself, crunching more leaves as he walked faster. "_It doesn't matter now anyways."_

Sadiq arrived downtown soon enough. At first glance, it was the image of the stereotypical 'small town' center: a single, long street with the basic businesses. Perhaps it had started that way, but anyone who lived there knew that the street was just the trunk of the town tree. From it, branches of lanes decorated with more family owned establishments and some corporate stores stretched out until it kissed the edges of the woods.

The Beilschmidt Dinner was one of the newer buildings located on the corner of Main Street and 7th Avenue. Everyone remembered the time when the two foreign men first bought out the old convenience store. They were newcomers to town, two fascinatingly blond men who somehow transformed the run down building into a 50's style dinner. The neon red sign clearly displayed the pride the two brothers held for the results of their hard work.

Sadiq also felt a sense of pride when he walked in. He could not count the hours he spent at the restaurant, clearing tables, cleaning the linoleum bar, and mopping the black and white tiled floor. His favorite part was when he worked in the kitchen. It was a dream for him to be paid to cook and both of his bosses were glad enough to let him do it. Often times, as he cooked the daily specials, he would just looked out the order window, to the long window consuming the majority of the front wall, and think about how lucky he was.

Hearing the bell chime as he opened the door, Sadiq paused and wiped his feet on the mat. His eyes drifted around the room, drinking the sight of the relatively American restaurant. Sadiq saw that there was a good crowd today- teens he saw around school hanging out as they ate simple fries and shakes. The dinner crowd would come in an hour or two. Sadiq would have to be prepared to start cooking by then. But first, he needed to talk to his bosses: the Beilschmidt brothers.

"There you are, Sadiq!" He sighed. There was one of them, the younger one, Gilbert. He was barely older than Sadiq was- barely scraping twenty -yet he seemed more grown. Maybe it was the thick, German accent coating his harsh, raspy voice. Maybe it was because Gilbert's hair appeared to be silver until a closer examination revealed it to be a platinum blond. Maybe it was simply because he was his boss and he was trained to respecting him

Sadiq smiled weakly and walked to Gilbert's usual and current post: managing the bar. "I'm sorry that I'm late, sir," he said respectfully, pulling up a seat on one of the many stools. "Did the school call about my new arrangements?"

Gilbert, serving shakes to a group of soccer players just out of practice, nodded. "_Ja_, of course they did. But that does not mean that my brother and I would not . . ." He trailed off. The man stopped what he was doing and leaned against the counter. "What is the word?" he asked out loud, blue eyes looking up to the ceiling. He did not seem to notice the athletes- all girls -taking deep interest in his display.

Sadiq asked, "Is it 'punish'?"

He clapped his hands together. "_Ja_! That is exactly the word I had been looking for." Smirking, Gilbert swaggered to where Sadiq was and placed his hands on his hips. "My brother and I will have to punish you for being late." He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Heinrich!"

Words in German were called in reply before an older man swung the kitchen doors opened. Like his brother, Heinrich looked a little young to be running a business, but to his credit he was going to be thirty on his next birthday. Heinrich was, however, shorter than Sadiq was but his tightly drawn face made his presence larger.

The teen watched as the blonde's ice blue eyes met his before he strutted over to greet him. "Good evening Sadiq," he said, slower and more heavily accented than his brother's. "How did your meeting go?"

He shrugged. "Well enough," he lied. "But Gilbert was just telling me that I have a punishment in store."

It took Heinrich a few moments to fully translate the sentence in his head, but when he did, he simply shook his head. "_Ja_, about that . . ." He ran a hand through his hair, muttering softly in German. "Sadiq, as a punishment for working less for us, Gilbert and I will have to pay you less."

The other German readily nodded, saying, "Yeah, we will take a penny off your paycheck for every hour you are not here."

Sadiq blinked. He was used to these two men's odd ways of running a business, but this was one of the strangest things yet. "But sir-"

"Yes, we know that it is a dif-fee-cult price to pay us," Gilbert carefully said as he dramatically pounded a hand on his chest. "But there must be order in this land with no laws."

No mattered how hard he tried, the teenager could not help but to chuckle. Yes, these two were the strangest bosses any person could have. "Thank you very much," he said, quickly sliding out of his seat. Out of respect, he repeated the phrase in his best German. He knew that the two of them sometimes had trouble speaking English and how highly they regarded their native tongue. Hearing their favorite employee speak it- even if it was terrible -was enough for both of them to smile softly.

Gilbert even laughed and patted his shoulder. "You are the most awe-ee-some boy I know." He grinned and laughed. "Now go put your uniform on and bus some tables." He readily nodded and rushed to go to work. Truthfully, he was a little disappointed that he would not be able to cook today, but the floor was busier and someone needed to clean the tables and take orders.

After changing into his required black slacks and white shirt, Sadiq started his round around the dinner, kindly asking the familiar faces of his fellow high schoolers how their meals and if they wanted seconds. The Beilschmidt Dinner was one of the few places where he was not known to his peers as a delinquent. Here, he was the waiter who always knew what the best thing to order was. Most of the customers liked it better when he did the cooking, but Gilbert made decent enough food. All could agree that as long as Heinrich stayed out of the kitchen, everything would be fine.

An hour later, to the very minute, the bell at the door chimed and in came a usual customer. The student crowd was beginning to leave and Sadiq was expertly balancing two trays stacked high of empty dishes when he turned and saw the regular. It was another teen a year younger than he was. His blond hair was cut as sharply as the glint in his green eyes. Sadiq flashed a smile, calling out, "Hello Vash! What can I do for you today?"

Vash Zwingli frowned. "You can start by not killing yourself," he said, eyeing the swaying dishes. All the tanned teen would do in return was grin like a madman. Vash's shoulders dropped as he sighed and took a seat at an empty booth. "It's the same as usual Sadiq: take out."

"Are you ordering for you sister today?" Sadiq asked, easily navigating to the employee side of the bar. He nodded. Vash's younger sister, Lili, was one of those people who was prophesied but never seen. Sadiq didn't know much about her except for the fact that often, Vash would come to the dinner and order his sister her favorite soup.

Recording the order in his head, Sadiq walked through the swinging doors of the kitchen, yelled it out to Gilbert, and dropped off the used dishes. He would do them later before his break ended. Quickly wiping his hands on a cloth, Sadiq rolled his neck and stepped back into the battlefield. Dinner hour was starting and his feet were already starting to ache. He frowned. That was never a good omen.

"You are a very good server." Sadiq paused. Sitting before him, at the bar, was the smiling face of a gorgeous young woman. She was in her mid-twenties, looking delicate but strong. Her healthy face looked stunning while it was framed by her wavy brown locks.

Sadiq did have to admit that by the way she wore her white blouse and long black skirt that she could be a model, but that was as far as his admiration went. He was on duty and he highly doubted the flirting would be allowed. Besides, she was a little too old for him anyways. Instead, he took a second to pause and give her a smile.

He replied, "I try my best, Miss." He noticed that she did not have any food or drink. Great, he had left a customer unserved. Poor service would reflect badly on the Beilschmidt brothers. "Would you like to order something?" he asked briskly. "Do you need a menu?"

The woman lightly shook her head. "No, I am fine." She also had a heavily accented tongue, but it was not German. Sadiq had no idea what it was. In fact, it did not hinder her speech like Gilbert's and Heinrich's. Sadiq personally thought that the way it forced her voice to rise and fall added an extra zest to her words. "I actually came here to talk to the owners. I saw an advertisement online about a job opening here."

He slowly nodded. He remembered Gilbert mentioning something about hiring more waiters, but he did not believe that either of them would find the money to pay for them. "_Apparently not," _he thought, trying not to grumble. The teen crowd really did make a strong impact on the financials. He really did wish that he was given just a little bit more of a warning.

Smiling on the outside, Sadiq asked her to wait a second before hurrying back into the kitchen. Multiple stoves and ovens seemed crammed together with a deep fryer and a counter to preparing food. The kitchen was a rich scent of hundreds of meals combined and cooked at different times. Sadiq navigated his way to the deep fryers where Gilbert was cooking some more fries. "Gil, there is a woman here looking for a job," he hissed, afraid of being overheard.

The blond raised an eyebrow. "Is she pretty?" he asked. Sadiq glared at him before the German cracked up laughing. "I am sorry, I had to say that," he breathed, slapping his side. "Take her to Heinrich. He is most likely in his office."

The brunette sighed. "Yes sir. And is the takeout food done yet?"

"It's been ready for a minute now," he replied, pointing a finger to the counter behind him. A white plastic bag sat untouched and radiating heat. "You know that I always save some soup for Vash."

Sadiq could not help but to smile. "You are a good owner," he commented. Taking the food with him, he walked back outside and instructed the woman to the back stairs leading to the second story office. Once that was done, he handed Vash his food and sent him on his way. By the time he returned, there was two families impatiently waiting for their seats.

It was a night of family dinners with the occasional armature dates. Stressful as it was, Sadiq was glad. More people meant better tips.

During his time serving, Sadiq had barely noticed the woman leaving. As she passed by the long window, she had smiled at him and waved as though they were old friends. It was not until after his shift when the crowds had died down and he was preparing to leave did Heinrich tell him. "The woman you saw today's name is Elizaveta Hedervary. Starting next week, she shall be working with you during your shift."

"_She seemed nice enough," _Sadiq thought as he walked back to his home. It was night and the moon was still low in the sky. His only light was the occasional street lamp (there were not many since there were trees at every doorstep) and the stars that hang over head. In a way, he guessed that it was another reason why the roads were so dark- who would want to hide such beautiful lights? "_Hopefully they wouldn't use her as an excuse for me to work less." _

Sadiq lived in the old part of town where a large radius of land surrounded each house. On his street alone, there were only five or so homes. The rest were trees and brush. Third house down, the one painted white, was the Adnan household. He looked up at it. Compared to the others, his was a little run down, but he had little time to care for it. The curtains to the first story windows were glowing from the yellow light it imprisoned. The front porch light was on as was the front bedroom on the second floor- Heracles's room.

First, Sadiq collected the mail from the tin mail box. Parts of it were coated with rust, but anything metal in the town was. It was one of the many consequences of having a yearly snowfall. His feet automatically carried him up the creaky steps of his porch. Lingering under the light, he checked and scowled at the bills. From where he stood, he could hear the soft noise of the T.V. He tried to go as slowly as he could, but the letters eventually ran out and he had no reason to continue stalling.

Resigning himself to his fate, he opened the screen door, undid the lock, and stepped inside. At first, he was greeted with the smell of cooked food- leftovers Sadiq had brought home from the Dinner earlier that week . He smiled as he closed the door and dropped his bag. As he pulled off his jacket, Sadiq indulged himself in a hopeful dream. Maybe today would be the day where it finally ended. A soft smile found its delicate way onto his face.

But then the disgusting stench finally met his nose.

It was bitter and sour to the taste. Sadiq could feel his palms sweat as he recognized the source: bourbon. For an instance, his world stopped cold.

His instincts screamed for him to run with his tail between his legs back to the Dinner and beg for the night shift. More than anything, he wanted to be anywhere but there. But just as he started to hastily put his arm back through the green jacket sleeve did he remember the light upstairs. Heracles was home and Sadiq would not abandon him here.

A sick feeling welled in the pit of his stomach. Sadiq wondered how he could be so selfish. He could _never _leave Heracles alone. Slowly, the teen forced himself to take his jacket off and hang it in the hallway closet. He took a deep breath, then another. Slowly, he forced his legs to walk him into the family room.

The sight disgusted him.

In the dark room, empty bottles of liquor were scattered across the floor. Their brown tinted glass decorated the throne of the tanned man he dared to called father. Father was asleep on the couch with the TV as his lullaby. His dark hair was a small tuft against the sand colored cushions. The black business suit he did not bother shedding was a camouflage to the rest of the dark cave.

Sweating, Sadiq stared as he tried to gather his courage. For all that he knew, his brother was watching him right now- waiting to see if he would lose his guts and run away. No, Sadiq was determined to do the exact opposite. Trying to be as affectionate as possible, Sadiq uncurled the half full bottle from his father's hand. Gently, he placed it on the coffee table before pulling his mother's old quilt over him. "I hope work wasn't too hard today," he muttered, petting the man's hair.

For his whole life, Father was an insurance worker in the big city; one of those men who commuted each day. He once was a strong man, always smiling and eating sit down dinners, but those days left the moment his mother did. Now, all he did was drink, leave for work, return home, and drink again. Sadiq remembered a time when his father had been a strong, proud man he could happily look up to. Now he was only a shell of what he once was; a mere mirage in the sunlight.

Sadiq did not hate his father for letting himself fall into despair- he hated the alcohol that fueled it.

In a way, Sadiq understood why his father was like this. He liked to believe that if Heracles suddenly left without explanation, he would break down as well. Maybe that was the reason why Sadiq could still lean in, kiss his 'father's' forehead, and mutter, "Sleep well."

Of course, his father was asleep and did not answer.

The son collected the empty bottles and carried them to the kitchen. There, as he placed them in the recycling bin, he noticed the remains of a single meal. "_So, Heracles had dinner." _Sadiq spent a few minutes cleaning up, reminding himself to spend his day off tomorrow buying groceries and making a fresh dinner. The dinners in the Adnan household were usually leftovers from the Dinner so graciously given to him by Gilbert and Heinrich. When all the dishes were clean and the wood floor swept, Sadiq drank half a carton of sweet apple juice: fuel to push him through his late night homework.

His school bag still over his shoulder, he quietly climbed up the stairs. The door to his parent's unused bedroom was shut, as was his brother's. He was comforted by the soft light flooding in from under the cracks. Sadiq carelessly threw his bag into his dark room before knocking on his brother's door. A soft grumble answered. "Hey, can I come in?" Sadiq asked, pressing his ear to the door.

Heracles mumbled a "No".

Sadiq opened it anyways.

Heracles's room was not the cleanest, but it was organized. Everything seemed to be out and in place all at the same time. It was as if everything Heracles owned was thrown carelessly aside with a defined purpose. There wasn't a single thing that could distinctly link Heracles to that room—except for one. His old dresser was crowded with many different kinds of marble- "The Building Blocks of Rome" or so Heracles called them.

Heracles himself laid on his bed, the sheets wrapped around him like a mummy. His stomach was pressing against the mattress and his laptop at his chin. Heracles resembled his room. His curly brown hair seemed uncontrollable, yet tamed all at once. His brown eyes dully glanced from the screen and glared at his brother. "I said not to come in," he growled.

Sadiq shrugged. "Yeah, but I wanted to check up on you," he replied. Heracles looked back at his screen. Sadiq forced a grin as he asked, "So did you eat dinner?" That was an obvious question.

He shrugged. "Yeah."

Sadiq sighed. Alright, he could not stall any longer. Leaning against the door, Sadiq crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "Did Kiku tell you about what happened at school today?"

Those dull brown eyes did not even falter. "Yeah."

"I want you to know that I am not expelled, but I am being punished for it." A pause. "What does that tell you?"

"That I shouldn't follow your terrible example," Heracles said, voice never leaving a monotone.

Sadiq frowned. He wouldn't call his example 'terrible', per say, but he did have to admit that he has made some dumb decisions in the past. Attempting to be the good example he desperately needed to be, he nodded. "I'm glad we've reached an understanding then. Did you do your homework?"

"Go do your own Sadiq," the other drawled. "I know that you're just procrastinating."

He opened his mouth, prepared to lecture him on how he did this because he cared, but Heracles's eyes were on his laptop and his attention was long gone. Releasing a irritated air, Sadiq quickly reminded him one last time to go to bed early before calling out a quick "Goodnight, brat."

As he left the room, Sadiq wondered if Emilie was going to be pulling an all-nighter as well. He hoped so- Mr. Kirkland's essays were always easier when her texts coaxed him through.

* * *

**MW: **And there we go. A chapter of character development! Plot's coming next chapter.

**SEK: **You know, we have a hard time writing these author's notes for this story. Like with the Fanseries, we can be goof. But we just can't be goofy here since this story is pretty serious.

**MW: **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. Any kind of input is welcomed!

**Notes**

"Another Lennie who was doomed to be shot" Here I was alluding to "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. ((Spoiler)) In the story, Lennie is a mentally disabled brute who is shot in order to avoid being arrested for murder. It's a billion times better then how I describe it.

**Next Chapter: **Sadiq and Ivan continue to snap at each other's necks.


	3. The Rumor

**MW: **I swear that I was going to update this over break, but life happened. I actually ended up writing a whole chapter on a cross country plane flight. Yup, that was kind of fun. So do I have any thoughts on this?

Well I do like this chapter. It really is a big plot mover and introduces a few extremely important characters for later on. For anyone that was wondering, the reason why the plot seems very slow right now is because I normally write chapters twice this size, so it's like every two chapters is one complete one. So my whole "it takes me three chapters for the plot to pick up" doesn't apply here. It's more like six, but since I'm working off a different outline, I'm not so sure.

**SEK: **Did you just write a complete author's note without including my input?

**MW: **Basically.

**SEK: **(This was not part of our agreement). And remember to always review.

**Name Guide**

Marianne Bonnefoy Kirkland—Fem!France, here France's sister

Michelle Gallaud- Seychelles

**Chapter Summary: **Things between Ivan and Sadiq go from bad to worse as gossip becomes a key player.

**Warnings: **Strong language, sexual themes, references to alcohol, and blood.

**Disclaimer: **I still own nothing but the plot.

* * *

**~Chapter 3~**

**The Rumor **

* * *

The three months and ten days after Alfred F. Kirkland's death quickly passed and soon the ten was growing and growing until the point where October would soon be ending. Then, the three months would become a four. Then, it would be four months without Alfred F. Kirkland.

It is always said that the pain of losing a love one would fade with time. Eventually, one could wake up and not feel the ache. Yet deep down, everyone knew how deceitful that belief was. Every Christmas there would be less presents under the tree. Whenever there was a happy family moment, a glaring reminder would tell you that there were photos of the dead smiling the same way. Every Fourth of July, Arthur Kirkland and the rest of the Kirkland household- Marianne, Matthew, and Peter -would wake up and remember that it once had been a birthday.

Three months and twenty days after the incident, Sadiq was not sure how Emilie was able to do it. To her, Mr. Kirkland was not just her teacher, but Uncle Arthur. Her father's sister had married him and the two teachers had been brothers-in-law since. That made Alfred Emilie's cousin. Sadiq was not sure how, but he had never seen her upset about his passing. There were instances early on when she would space out and her eyes watered, but she never cried or openly mourned over him. Sadiq suspected that around the time of the funeral, she had been a wreck, but he would never know.

Like the rest of the Kirkland-Bonnefoy clan, she attended it in peace and then worked herself back into shape before school started again in August. Emilie had pushed Sadiq further and further away during that month. She had to be ready to face the world just like everyone else. In the end, she, Matthew, Peter, and Mr. Bonnefoy returned to the school on schedule, looking as happy as they ever could. Mr. Kirkland followed a few weeks later.

But even now, as Sadiq and Emilie worked together in the cooking class, Sadiq had to wonder if it was all just an act. He wondered if under her mask, there was still the girl who was mourning over the boy who grew up with her. And as they rolled their cookie dough between their palms, he wondered if that was even the proper way to mourn.

Mourning without alcohol.

Sadiq sighed and looked out the window. The school's cooking room was rather large and jammed packed with students. Cooking, taught by Mr. Bonnefoy himself, was one of the few school electives available. Up and down the counters with the built in ovens and stoves, students laughed and worked together on their latest meal. Or at least they were supposed to. Natural cooks like Emilie and Sadiq were more often than not burdened with all the work while everyone else gossiped and kept ghosts floating down the hallways.

"Are you doing anything for Halloween?" Emilie asked, gently placing a ball of dough on the metal sheet. She didn't seem to mind the flour that dusted the front of her skirt nor the strands of hair that fought their way out of her braid.

Sadiq shrugged. "You know me. I'll probably end up working a double shift. Why?"

"Papa and I wanted to know if you and Heracles wanted to come with us the next day to All Saints Day mass," she explained simply. Simple and curt. "I didn't want to ask you if you were going to be out late."

He placed his finished ball on the cookie sheet and shrugged. He always received offers like that from the Bonnefoy family. A few times, he had gone with them, but it would usually end with Mr. Bonnefoy nostalgically talking about his dead wife. It's not as though Sadiq minded hearing about how great a woman Jeanne was, it was just that those were Emilie and Mr. Bonnefoy's memories. There was no room for Sadiq Adnan there.

He watched as she rolled the last of their dough. The rest of their classmates were only half way through theirs, so they both knew that they were ahead like usual. Leaning into the counter, the teen picked at his nail, saying, "Thanks, but no thanks. You know that I really don't do religion."

Emilie tried not to sound disappointed. "Well if you ever change your mind, Papa and I would be more than happy to have you."

He nodded and returned his stare to the window. Before he could stop it, his mind began drifting away. One of these days, he would be able to cook in a place other than the diner or Mr. Bonnefoy's cooking class. He would be in his own restaurant, cooking what his mother taught him so long ago. One day . . .

Emilie huffed and smacked the side of his head with a mitten. He shot the victorious girl a glare. "The heck, Emilie?" he growled. "What was that for?"

"I was talking and you weren't listening," she said hotly. Reluctantly, he forced himself to watch as she quickly bent over and slid the tray into the oven. When she had the door closed and timer set, she continued. "I was asking how you and Ivan have been doing." He hissed. "Is it that bad?"

Flashes of the boy and his alcohol appeared in the back of his eyes. "More than you'll ever know."

Smoothing the stray strands of her hair, Emilie pressed her lips, asking, "Well have you at least tried to work things out with him?" He sadly shook his head. "Why?"

"I told you why. The kid was drinking alcohol and if Mr. Wang finds out-"

"I've heard this excuse before," Emilie snapped. Very much like a scolding mother, she frowned and placed her hands on her hips. She glared at him through the frames of her glasses. "Unfortunately, I understand completely, which is why you need to tell him. What do you think he'll do when he finds out that you've been lying to him about your meetings?"

He rolled his eyes. "I still go to them! It's just half of the time, the jackass's not there!"

She mimicked him. "And what do I suppose you two do when he does show?"

"We sit at opposite desks and wait for the hour to be up."

Emilie ran her hand down her face. Groaning, the girl expressed her annoyance through muttered curses before saying, "That's besides my point. My point is that if Mr. Wang finds out that Ivan's drinking and you didn't tell him, you're screwed."

Sadiq clicked his tongue. "Well Miss Bonnefoy- that is probably the most crude word I have ever heard you say." He grinned. "Tell me: how does that make you feel?"

"I feel as though you need to stop joking around and start listening to me!"

"Sadiq." The two paused and sighed. From behind him, Sadiq could feel Mr. Bonnefoy lingering as he gave a sly smirk. With a little irritation, he turned and faced the blond. Like usual, Mr. Bonnefoy was dressed formally and stylishly. His firm grasp on stylish shirts and pants always made Sadiq believe that the town's clothing stores modeled the men's inventory after him.

Mr. Bonnefoy—with shoulder-kissing blond locks -happily winked, saying, "You and Emilie have to stop fighting like a married couple or else I might think there is something going on between you two. Then I'd have to protect my daughter's chastity, wouldn't I?"

Even though the students in the area giggled and added small extras to the claim, the only feeling Sadiq had that welled in his stomach was patience. He's known the man for so long, he was already used to his jokes. And even if he did go too far sometimes, he was the one who first showed him the art of cooking. Not the practical kind his mother showed him, but the splendor of taste and show. He had given Sadiq his life and no trespass can ever make him hate him.

In a way, Mr. Bonnefoy was his second father.

Wearing his patience on his sleeve, Sadiq buried his hands into his pockets and gave him an even look. "Mr. Bonnefoy, if Emilie ever got a boyfriend, we both know that I would be the first one there with a bat," he said. As Emilie flushed, her father smiled as the students who heard chuckled. "But if you get in the way of me scoring, I'm afraid I'll have to turn that bat against you."

Emilie covered her face as the students around her laughed. Sadiq could feel her dark fuming on his back. It would be safe to say that she was not going to lend him the answers to the English homework today. Mr. Bonnefoy, on the other hand, sighed. Reaching over the counter, he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not at school, Sadiq," he said, giving him a firm squeeze.

Sadiq's smirk faded into a frown. "Too much?"

"Yeah. Try to save that kind of talk for when I'm off duty." The teacher gave an apologetic smile before ordering the class to return to their work. "Since a lot of you need to raise your grades, I'm going to make this worth double," he declared. His students immediately hurried to get their cookies into the ovens.

Sadiq chuckled before dealing with the next Bonnefoy. Emilie was standing a few feet away, still angry and still embarrassed. Carefully, he placed a hand on her head. "I'm sorry for that," he said softly. "You know that I never mean it."

"You better hope he doesn't."

Sadiq rolled his eyes and turned to the two girls across the counter. They were probably the oddest match for friends he had ever seen: the quiet and serious Lien and the loud and energetic Michelle. Michelle was a lanky girl with dark skin and black hair. Two red bows jumped out from their places at the end of her pigtails and licked the top of her blue blouse. Truthfully, Sadiq couldn't really say if he liked Michelle all that much. Lien was quiet and kind, but Michelle's childish antics got on his nerves a little too quickly.

Perhaps that was the reason why they called her the Gossip Queen. Her lust for fun and flawless memory made her the best source of school gossip. She was always listening—in the halls, bathrooms, cafeteria –for what the students had to say. If there was a rumor going around, she could trace the source. She could tell you what the rumor originally was before the unreliable tongues of teenagers morphed it into something completely different.

Holding his lips in a tight line, Sadiq gave them a tense look. "What do you mean by that, dear old Michelle?" he asked as he leaned into the counter.

Michelle giggled and leaned into hers as well. Except hers was not done in his tense manner. No, she was like every other girl and did it in the most body-complementing way possible. He would have loved to have hated her for that, but Emilie unconsciously did it as well. "It's been a two weeks Sadiq. You don't need to pretend anymore," Michelle giggled.

"Pretend about what?" Emilie appeared at his side. Her composure was back and no one would have been able to tell that it was ever gone. As she absently played with the ends of her braid, she looked up at Sadiq and asked, "What are they talking about?"

He brushed her- all of it -off. "I don't even know what she's talking about."

Lien looked ready to say something, but Michelle quickly pushed her opinion to the front. She was practically jumping on her heels when she said, "Nu-uh! I was in the bathroom a week ago and I heard that you were flirting with Alfred's girlfriend."

If Emilie had been drinking something, Sadiq was sure that she would have spat it all out. "You what?" A mixture of emotions flashed across her face: shock, anger, panic, and betrayal. She lightly slapped his shoulder, though there was a ton of emotional force behind it. "Sadiq! Natalya is Alfred's- Why would you-"

He raised his hands in defense. At that moment, he just about hated all girls just as much as he hated Lovino. No matter how much he tried, he would never be able to understand their ability to gossip so avidly. Sending Michelle a glare, he snapped, "For your information, I was not flirting. The girl dropped her stuff and I helped her pick it up."

That excuse seemed to be enough to quell Emilie (she trusted his word), but it went completely over Michelle's head. Sighing whimsically, she placed her chin on her hand, saying, "You know, you and Natalya would make a cute couple. You can be the guy who hooks up with the depressed girl and saves her with love."

"Well if you don't shut up about it, I'm going to-" Emilie quickly grabbed his arm and motioned to Lien for a little help.

The black haired girl nodded and pushed Michelle away. "You really have to excuse her," Lien said, forcing a respectful smile. But it didn't look right. Lien was not made for smiling and smiles were not meant for Lien. No matter how much she tried, it would always appear just a little crooked. "You know how Michelle is- she's just joking around."

Michelle shrugged. "I'm just saying that it would be good for her if she had someone there for her," she stated simply. "She's been acting really weird lately."

Emilie and Sadiq both raised an eyebrow. The shorter one asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well she used to be pretty easy to hang out with, but ever since Alfred died she's either been alone or latching to her brother's arm."

"She lost her boyfriend, Michelle," Sadiq said. "What else is she supposed to do?" Both Emilie and Lien looked down at their feet. Both of the dark skinned teens noticed, but neither knew what to do. It was a blessing when the oven timer went off. "Why dontcha go take those cookies out?" he suggested, nudging Emilie's shoulder encouragingly. Michelle did something similar.

He watched as his friend looked up and smiled. "Why don't you?" she asked crossly, returning to her normal self. Still, she slid the mittens onto her hands and opened the oven door. Sadiq frowned. And there she went again: putting on a mask and pretending that everything was okay. He had said something that reopened a hastily stitched wound. He wanted to approached her about it, ask her what he can do to help, but he didn't know how.

He didn't even know how to get his own brother to talk to him.

"So what do you want to do with these?" She asked, placing the tray on the stove top. The cookies still bubbled at the base, but after a few minutes of cooling the golden delicacies would be ready to devour. "I don't know about you but I would rather avoid sweets right before Halloween."

"Well, Gilbert's been making sure that I eat all the leftover sweets at the dinner, so same." Sadiq frowned and looked down at their little problem. They could try giving them to other students, but most would only want to eat their own. Mr. Bonnefoy would tell them to eat it themselves before he reported them for being anorexic.

Emilie took off her glasses and cleaned the lenses with the end of her shirt. "What about Heracles?" She asked. "Do you think that he and Kiku might want them?"

Sadiq grinned. "Of course," he said. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Emilie frowned. "Sadiq, you should probably ask him first if he wants anything." But no matter how many times she tried to reason with him, he always brushed her away and insisted that Heracles would want them.

Soon enough, the end of the class came and the cookie were all placed on a paper plate. Some students were still waiting for the timers on their ovens to ring with varying levels of emotion—some panicky, others with nonchalance. The bell rang and Mr. Bonnefoy happily released them to their lunch hour. Sadiq practically ran down the hall, ignoring Emilie as she called out for him to slow down.

Anyone at the school could agree that there were three things that Sadiq Adnan loved doing: picking on Lovino, annoying Mr. Wang, and being brotherly to Heracles. In his eyes, that plate of cookies would be another step closer to getting the kid to talk to him a little more. Once they started talking again, Sadiq was sure that both his and Kiku's concerns over Heracles's well-being would finally be silenced. After all, if there was something wrong with his brother, he could easily take care of it.

He was determined to not be his father.

Sadiq and Emilie eventually found Heracles in his math room. They both looked through the door window and saw him sitting among ten or so other students. They were all hunched over what looked like tests, diligently scratching work on scratch paper. The teacher was at her desk, grading work and eating fruit. The concern that shone in Emilie's eyes was missing in Sadiq's. He knew that math was not the best subject for Heracles. Staying behind to do a test was no big deal. Sadiq had to do the same thing for science all the time.

"Maybe we should give it to him after school," Emilie suggested, trying to nudge him away.

Whatever she was trying to hint at was lost on him. "Nah, it'll be fine," he said. He slid his bag off his shoulder and handed it to her, saying, "Hold this please. Be right back." She tried one last time to hold him back, but he still pushed the door and strutted in. He held his head up high and gave off his usual air of cockiness. A few of the students, not Heracles, glanced up and stared while the teacher pursed her lips. Sadiq held up the plate and pointed to his unaware Heracles.

Her face showed a small struggle of whether or not to let him, but in the end she nodded and held a finger to her lips. "_Be quiet about it."_

Happily, Sadiq went to his brother. Heracles's eyes were drawn in concentration as he stared at his problem. His fingers tangled themselves in his curls as he bit his lips in frustration. Sadiq knelt by his desk and placed the plate at the corner. Heracles looked up at him, at the plate, and back at him. "What are you doing here?" He hissed, soft enough for only Sadiq to here.

He smiled and answered just as softly, "Just bringing you some food."

Heracles scowled at it and pushed it away. It was still close enough so that it would not fall, but far enough to make a point. "I don't want them," he said.

"You need food."

"I'll eat when I get home."

Sadiq frowned. What was wrong with Heracles? He was trying to do the brat a favor and he wasn't accepting it. It looked as though this was—once again –going to be a time when he was going to have to use his 'big brother' authority. In a vicious whisper, he squeezed Heracles's arm and said, "Listen to me, Heracles. I don't care what you eat as long as you eat—"

"Well isn't that cute." Sadiq paused. That voice . . . That was right. Heracles was a junior.

And so was Ivan.

Sadiq's eyes slowly shifted from his brother to the desk behind him. Ivan sat there, easily smiling with his chin on his hand. He leaned in as close as he could without alerting the teacher. Sadiq's frown grew deep and he could already feel his short temper burn away. "What do you want, Braginski?" he asked hotly.

Ivan shrugged. "I'm just confirming something," he sang innocently. "It looks as though the second Adnan is just as pathetic as the first."

Heracles hunched closer to his work and covered his face. Sadiq, meanwhile, furrowed his eyebrows. "Don't say that about my brother," he hissed.

He chuckled. "So you don't care that I just called you pathetic?" he asked. His smile grew wider. "I guess you really do have some mixed up priorities."

"Says the drinker."

"Says the butt kisser." Ivan tapped his pencil and blinked his eyes childishly. "Tell me Adnan: what did you have to do to get that deal anyways? Beat up a few kids? Clean Wang's shoes?" Ivan's face lit with realization. "Maybe you gave up your body—"

Without thinking, Sadiq jumped to his feet. Loudly, he banged his hand on Ivan's desk, saying, "Listen here, I—"

"Hey!" The teacher rose from her seat and gave him a hard look. "If you're going to disrupt my students, you can do it in the principal's office."

Sadiq grimaced. Everyone was staring at him, giving him looks of annoyance and fright. Giving a side glance, he could see Emilie looking in from the window, biting her lips and looking distressed. Heracles was the only one not looking—he insisted on hunching as close as he could to his test while trying to get his hair to cover his face. Sadiq knew he overstepped himself. He should have walked out on Ivan as soon as the punk started talking. But now it was too late to fix that. Instead, he raised his chin and tried to make it looked as though he was in control. "It's fine. I was just about to leave anyways," he said. He rubbed his hand on Heracles's head. "Good luck, kid." Heracles grumbled and swatted him away.

As coolly as he could, he ignored all the glares aimed at his back as he walked out. When Sadiq placed his hand on the doorknob, he glanced back at the classroom. The teacher was still scowling, the students were still staring, and Heracles was still hiding. Ivan was still smiling, raising his eyebrows in humor, as if to say, "_I win this time."_

And he did. He did win.

Sadiq huffed before yanking the door open and marching out. Emilie squeaked and took a few steps back. "What happened in there?" she asked, watching him tensely close it shut again. "Did Heracles—"He hung his head low and walked away. Quickly. He did not know how much longer he was going to be able to contain himself. "Sadiq. I know you got into a fight, but what did—"

Finally, they were a far enough that the teacher would not hear him. "Hold my bag up and brace yourself," Sadiq ordered darkly. He was not looking at her, but he could hear her mutter a swear and do as she was told. This had happened before. Sometimes he would get so mad, that he would vent his anger through his fists. The victims were never humans, just soft objects that could not be hurt.

Sadiq gave Emilie a moment to hold her stance before he rolled up his sleeves and put all of his weight into his fists. Without another thought, he punched his backpack. She grunted and slid a few feet, but held up. She may have been small, but she was strong. Sadiq knew that she could take it.

Through the blinding anger in his head, Sadiq hit his bag with everything he had. He could feel his notebooks dig into his knuckles, but he ignored it. All the while, he breathed, "Fucking Braginski . . . fucking Heracles . . . fucking Wang . . . fucking Tim . . . fucking Dad . . . fucking jackasses. . ."

A sharp pain shot up his arm. At first, Sadiq just ignored it and continued to ram his hand into his target. It was all he hated all at once. It felt so good to finally release all of his pent up anger. But the pain didn't cease—it grew worse. Then through his haze, he heard something. "Sadiq stop! You're bleeding!" Sadiq felt himself freeze mid punch. That was Emilie. She sounded so upset, so worried.

Steadily, the anger left his head and he could see her clearly. Her eyes were wide as she stared at his bleeding fist. Thick blood traveled down his arm before dripping onto the dirty white floors. He swore and cradled his hand. "Fuck!" He looked up at his friend. "How did I . . ." He saw it.

Her hands had been wrapped around his bag. He could see her finger had been in the line of fire and the sharp diamond ring on her right finger—the deceased Mrs. Bonnefoy's engagement ring –was dotted with blood. But that was not what had his concern. Her fingers, already a bruised yellow, were showing signs of turning purple.

Sadiq felt his knees grow weak. "Oh my God." He took a carefully step towards her and when she didn't shrink back, went right into her face. "Are you alright?" He demanded, carefully taking his bag away. He held her hand in his, panicky, searching for more injuries. "Oh my God, Emilie, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to—"

"I know you didn't," Emilie said. Her voice was calm and steady, purposely so that he would feel better. But it only served to worsen the pit in his stomach. How could he have done something like that? How could she treat it like it was nothing? She took his injured hand in hers and looked at the cut. "Though I'm more concerned about this. We should take you to the nurse."

Sadiq shook his head. "If we do, then we'll have to explain what happened."

The girl sighed. "My dad has a first aid kit in his room. I'll go grab a few Band-Aids from there. Sit down and stay here." She gave him her motherly look and Sadiq, quick to make it up to her, obediently did as he was told. "Watch my bag. I'll be right back."

Sadiq watched her go, the heels of her flats clicking on the floors. Her figure was still small, but the determination radiating off her made her seem big. When she turned the corner, Sadiq sighed and leaned against the wall. What was wrong with him? How did he not realize that he hit her? Was he really that blind? If only he walked out when Ivan started talking to him.

Braginski . . .

This was his fault. Sadiq _had _to get his revenge. Ivan could taunt him all he wanted, but the guy also turned on Heracles. And what about that freshman he had beaten? There had to be a way to get him to stop before anything else bad happens. But with such a big guy who Mr. Muhammed had faith in, it would be hard to do that. There was, however, one thing he and every other teenager learned from high school: the power of peers.

Everyone had to be against him.

"Sadiq?" His attention zoomed back to reality as he realized that Lien and Michelle were in front of him. They were among the students scrambling to get their cookies done; of course they'll still be wandering the halls. "Are you alright?" Lien asked, staring down at his bleeding hand.

Sadiq quickly shoved it into his jacket. "I'm fine," he snapped. "I—" There, at one of the hallway corners, was a familiar tuft of blond hair. It wasn't Emilie's—this one was too light to be hers. But the person—boy –did have similar glasses. If memory served his right, that was the dead boy's brother.

That was Alfred's older twin, Matthew W. Kirkland.

Sadiq did not have time to wonder what he was doing or why he would not stop staring at him. No, his mind was slowly developing a plan. Who was the one person that everyone still cared about? Who was the one jock who everyone refused to forget? "You know, I recently heard a rumor," Sadiq said. "Do you want to hear it?"

Lien shook her head.

Michelle eagerly nodded and gave him an expectant look.

"You know Ivan Braginski, right? The guy who beat up that freshman earlier this month?" Said asked. She nodded again, on the edge of her seat. "I heard he did it because the guy was going on about how much he liked Alfred."

He watched as Michelle frowned. There was a solemn power to that name. "Why would he do that?" She asked.

"I heard it was because Ivan always had something against Alfred." Sadiq gave them a hopeful look, asking, "Will you two promise to keep it a secret?" Lien gave a silent nod while The Gossip Queen voiced a guarantee.

By the end of the day, everyone knew that Ivan Braginski hated Alfred F. Jones.

And exactly three months and twenty-five days after the tragic death of Alfred F. Kirkland, the rumor was morphed to the point of being unrecognizable.

Exactly three months and twenty-five day after Alfred's passing, every student at his high school believed that the fire that killed him was caused by Ivan Braginski.

* * *

**MW: **And there we go. That sort of spiced things up now, didn't it?  
**SEK: **Yes, so any story you have to tell now?

**MW: **Umm . . . I tried to check out a John Green book at the library the other day. I was trying to put it on hold when a pop up box at the computer came up, saying that I might not want to check it out since there was a 32 person waiting list. I find this perfectly acceptable.

**SEK: **I see. Anything else?

**MW: **Not really. So feel free to review!

**No Notes**

**Next Chapter: **Sadiq's influence on Ivan starts to become apparent. Then, the reason for his and Lovino's rivalry is made clear.

**This is my first 100% third person story, so any kind of criticism is appreciated. **


	4. The Baggie

**MW: **Welcome to another episode of "Sadiq, how badly can you screw things up", guest starring Ivan.

**SEK: **Did you really just make that joke?

**MW: **I was trying to make the ANs a little bit more enjoyable.

**SEK: **Oh course you were. Thank you to everyone for reviewing. It really means a lot to us, right?

**MW: **Yessiree! And so I am proud to announce that this is the very last boring chapter. Next one is pure plot and you should all be excited for it.

**SEK: **Yup! And so thank you for making it so far and remember to review!

**Chapter Summary: **After talking to Mr. Muhammed about things, Sadiq has a confrontation with Tim.

**Warnings: **Strong language and drug references.

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Hetalia.

* * *

**~Chapter 4~**

**The Baggie**

* * *

Halloween was one of Alfred's favorite holidays- anyone in town could have told you that. Every 31st of October, Alfred would be the first to bust out the old pillowcases, put on the silly costumes, and parade down the street with his loot of candy. When Mr. Kirkland decided that he was too old for such childish traditions, Alfred started a tradition of converting the Kirkland garage into a haunted house. He would decorate the garage with as much blood and gore as his mother would allow him while Matthew did what his father wanted and escorted Peter on his trick-or-treating pilgrimage. Many of Alfred's friends like Yao and Carlos would complain about how he would start planning for it as early as March.

It was also traditional for Sadiq and Emilie to pull on cheap homemade costumes and go to the attraction. Sadiq never minded the kool-aid blood or jell-o eyeballs, but Emilie would turn a pale green before shrilly demanding air.

On the first Halloween since Alfred's death, Sadiq could not help but to feel disappointed. It was almost a holy obligation that they go every year. Every time he and Emilie would try to get as far through it as they could before she had to bail out. Alfred even had a record to keep track of her improvement. But now that he was gone, the two of them had to find other things to do. Emilie had plans to mentally prepare herself for the All Saint's Day Mass the following morning and Sadiq scheduled himself to work that shift at the diner. In fact, the only thing Sadiq had to look forward to that Halloween was his lunch appointment with Mr. Muhammed.

This was his first appointment. Although Mr. Muhammed had claimed that these meetings were going to be frequent, he still had a job to do. He still had to take care of the other students attending the town's high school. Sadiq had even forgotten about the meetings completely until he received a summons for it just before lunch.

Sadiq sat in the comfy chair in front of Mr. Mahammed's desk, absently picking at his nails. The office was neat, precise in the placement of pictures and comfortable trinkets. Many of them were school projects made by the counselor's children. Sadiq stared at a picture of Mr. Muhammed with two little girls with slightly lighter hair, skin, and eyes dressed up as Disney Princesses. It was one of the few records of him smiling with his arms around the small shoulders and eyes looking at the photographer: his wife.

Mr. Muhammed patiently watched him with his hands folded on his lap. He gave the teen a few more minutes of silence—eyes never leaving the picture – before clearing his throat. "You have been rather quiet today, Sadiq," he said. Sadiq's eyes snapped at him, as if to demand why he would interrupt his stare. "Is something on your mind?"

Sadiq shrugged. "I was just thinking." He unconsciously started picking at the scab on his knuckles. Emilie had snapped at him many times to leave it alone or else it'll scar, but he didn't listen. He did it without thinking, so how was he supposed to know when to stop? And besides, a few more scars wouldn't hurt.

But there were other scars he was more concerned about. His little rumor about Ivan hating Alfred had escalated to a point he never thought possible. Half of the students believed that Ivan had purposefully set the fire that killed him. The other half did their best to brush it off as rumor, but they still avoided the junior as much as possible anyways. Just the other day, he saw Ivan walking innocently down the halls while multiple brutish jocks painfully rammed their shoulders into him as he carelessly walked by. Sadiq knew that it was going to grow worse. These jocks were Alfred's friends. Any ruin to his name would not go unpunished.

Sadiq wanted to ask Michelle how the rumor had turned so violent, but he was afraid. He was afraid to realize how quickly teenagers- all people whom he grew up with -could turn something so simple into something twisted. He did not want to admit that he was afraid of taking the blame.

Mr. Muhammed sat patiently at his desk, waiting for Sadiq to elaborate. When no explanation came, he marked something down on a little note pad and moved the appointment along. He asked, "So how have your sessions with Ivan been?"

He watched Sadiq sigh and slouch in his seat. His brown eyes were on the dots on the ceiling panels. "Okay," he lied. "He definitely doesn't need any tutoring. You just have to motivate him."

He nodded. "Do you have any idea how to do that?"

Sadiq shook his head. "No. The jacka—punk can't spend five minutes around me without picking a fight." He groaned, rubbing his temples. "In all truth Mr. Mahummed, I hate his guts. Can I just stop having to go to these?" He was practically pleading. "We get nothing done and the only thing we're getting are headaches." He was sure that Mr. Muhammed would help him, try his best to get him out of his deal with Mr. Wang. He was a good man and he would understand.

But Mr. Muhammed merely shook his head. "I'm sure that it's just a big misunderstanding," he reasoned. "I think that you and Ivan just need to talk about your problems and reach an understanding."

He groaned, slapping his hands on his knees with frustration. "You're not listening to me," Sadiq snapped. "The ass has a goal of making _my _life miserable. I'm just about ready to ki—"

"Be careful what you say, Sadiq," Mr. Muhammed quickly warned. "If you make a threat I am required to report it to the police station." Sadiq looked down, closed his mouth, and leaned back into his chair. "And I understand that you are frustrated, but believe me when I say that you two are more similar than you believe. I bet that you two will come to an understanding soon."

"If you were in my position, you wouldn't be saying that," Sadiq grumbled.

Mr. Muhammed sighed. He threaded his fingers together, breathing slowly and tensely. "You know, Mr. Wang was very hesitant to agree to this arrangement. But believe it or not, having someone to relate to is the greatest therapy available. That's how I met my wife. We were both two people who had immigrated to the United States as children. I was from Egypt and she was from Northern Europe. We were the only people in our elementary school that had to learn another language and culture. So we understood and related to each other better than anyone else could. It was the greatest therapy anyone could ever offer."

Sadiq raised an eyebrow. "And you married her?"

"I love her. Is that a problem Mr. Adnan?" Sadiq quickly shook his head. It seemed a little odd to him for someone to want to marry a girl he grew up with. Didn't Mr. Muhammed want to experiment, meet another woman and pursue a life with her? Why would he want to stay with one person his entire life?

Seemingly pleased with the answer, the counselor continued, "It's also used on much larger scales like support groups. Alcoholic Anonymous is a good example of that."

Sadiq rolled his eyes. "Group therapy is not for everyone and it sure isn't good enough for me."

"I understand that completely. This is supposed to help you as much as it helps Ivan. Did you know that Ivan has actually started turning in his work again?"

Sadiq shook his head, saying, "I don't believe it."

Mr. Muhammed smirked. "You should. Remember a few days ago when you disrupted your brother's math test?" He nearly laughed when his student choked. "Yes, the teacher reported the incident to me. Ivan has been there every day making up every single test he can. He's been doing similar things for all of his other subjects. I don't know what happened, but I would bet my job that it was because of you."

Sadiq grinned. "Aren't you always risking your job for me?" He still did not believe that anything good was going to come from these sessions, but as long as Mr. Muhammed and Mr. Wang believed that there was something there, his studentship at the school was safe.

"Yes I do," he replied, chuckling. "So you better be grateful." For a minute, the two did nothing but giggle and grin at each other. It was safe to say that once he graduated, Sadiq was going to miss Gupta as much as Gupta was going to miss him. The two of them settled back down soon enough and serious atmosphere returned. Mr. Muhammed's wiped the smile off of his face as he quickly scribbled another note. He asked, "So how _is _Heracles lately?"

The mirth left Sadiq completely as his face fell. "The kid's fine," he replied, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach. A part of him feared that there was something wrong with his brother, something he had failed to predict. "Why do you ask?"

"Your disturbance of his math class. I was wondering what that whole fiasco was about."

Sadiq sighed. He thought about the pros and cons about telling the truth, that it was all over a simple tray of cookies. Or he could blame Ivan, the guy who kindled his sparkle of anger into a fire. "It was just a misunderstanding," he said simply. He tried to look back at the picture of the two little princesses, but the expectant look in Mr. Muhammed's eyes lured him to explain further. "I wanted to give him some food a lunch and he wouldn't accept."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you two got into an argument over that?" The unprofessional disbelief in his voice cut through him like a knife.

"You make it sound as though I'm as bad as a brother as Yao," Sadiq said, grimacing.

The eyebrow only went up further. "What makes you believe that Yao is a bad brother?"

"The jerk is an inconsiderate prick. He does whatever he can to stay away from his family and yet pretends that his relationship with Kiku is completely okay when Kiku hates his guts."

"He's just going through a bit of a rebellious stage," Mr. Muhammed said. "Many teens do it. It's completely normal."

The teenager rolled his eyes and huffed, "Well he could at least have a little bit more consideration for what Kiku wants instead of just forcing himself on him."

They were silent. Sadiq sat there, waiting for the man to attempt to clarify, defend Yao Wang's wrong doings. But his mouth was closed shut. Instead, Mr. Muhammed unsettlingly placed his chin on his hand and leaned into the desk. His dark eyes observed Sadiq with interest, as if a realization was coming upon him. Sadiq could not help but to fidget. What did he say wrong?

"That is an interesting way of to view it," Mr. Muhammed told him at last. "And, um, you feel as though you treat Heracles better?"

He folded his arms over his chest and nodded. "Yeah, of course I do. Unlike him, I actually care about my brother."

Mr. Muhammed drummed his fingers on the table, thinking. "That is very interesting," he muttered, looking off to the side in thought. "Very interesting. . . " He coughed and straightened his back, his odd moment forgotten. "Well I do believe we have a few minutes before lunch ends," he announced, rising to his feet. Sadiq copied him, scooping his bag off the ground. "I might as well give you a few extra minutes to get to class. Are you and Heracles going to do anything for Halloween?"

Sadiq shrugged. "Not really. I have work tonight and Heracles said that he and Kiku had plans."

"Well I really do hope that you two can have some bonding time soon." Mr. Muhammed led the younger to his office door, saying, "Anyways, be safe tonight and anytime you need help my doors will always be open."

Sadiq politely smiled. "I'll be sure to remember that," he said. They both knew quite well that he would never take him up on that offer. "You have fun with your daughters tonight." Mr. Muhammed smiled and exchanged a few more loose goodbyes with him until he was out the door and in the administration office. The door closed behind him with a finishing click.

For a moment, Sadiq stood there, tempted to knock and ask what Mr. Muhammed found to be "interesting", but he told himself let it go. Mr. Muhammed was a strange man. His ways would become clearer with time. Without another regard, he adjusted his bag and headed off.

The walk to his next class was an easy one. After lunch, Sadiq would file in with a crowd of males into the boy's locker room. Gym was a required class and all the students only had to do two years of it, but Sadiq and many other so-called slackers put off doing their share of it until the last minute. Now Sadiq had to run laps and play teams sports every 6th period.

The locker rooms were as old as the school. Countless rows of small blue lockers stretched before him, students changing clothes in the middle. Once it may have been a pinnacle of school pride and athletic spirit—like the gym itself— but now it only reeked of over used bleach. "Hey there Adnan," Tim greeted, sitting at the bench in his normal clothes. He played with a lollipop between his fingers, a crude replacement for a joint. "I didn't see you in the cafeteria today," he said. "Your girlfriend looked awfully lonely."

"Not as lonely as you were," Carlos called from a few lockers down. Sadiq frowned. He and Tim were there due to procrastination. Carlos and Yao were athletes—a soccer player and cross country runner. They wanted to be there, sweating and moving for not only 6th but for their 7th period sports team. Sadiq did not like them. Sure, they were good at what they did. They brought the school a lot of sports honors. But they were, in his eyes, jerks.

Friends of Alfred, Carlos and Yao were part of the roots of the school's social web. They were not the cruel jocks that many high school movies portray. They were nice and fair to the people who didn't piss them off. To the people who did, they made sure to give them a sly remark as often as they could. Sadiq earned his by having a run in with Yao a few years back.

Their brothers had trespassed on private property by the lake and irked the anger of the man who owned it. Both of them escaped without a call to the authorities, but Sadiq and Yao had gotten into a heated argument over whose fault it was. No matter how often Heracles and Kiku tried to explain that it was an accident, neither of them would listen. It was Yao's fault since he was the one who took them there and he had the responsibility for keeping them out of trouble. At the same time, Yao was insistent that Sadiq had an overall bad influence on his little brother. Both of their prides would prevent them from ever reaching a resolution.

Meanwhile Tim, as Sadiq would say, was hated by everyone who did not buy their drugs from him. This apparently included all the members of the social center. The exact members, however, often changed. When Natalya and Lien each dated Alfred, they were part of it, but they both dropped out eventually. Michelle was sometimes in and sometimes out, depending of the rumor that was spreading. Lovino, being a star soccer player, left (some say kicked out) shortly after Sadiq started harassing him.

"Piss off Carlos, before I start questioning your relationship with Yao," Tim called out, grinning and flashing all of his yellow teeth. He laughed when Carlos's tanned face turned red with anger as he started to throw a punch. Yao was quick to hold him back, resulting in him struggling in his grasp as he loudly demanded to know why Tim "would call him a fag".

"You better watch your mouth, Van Rijin, or else you'll regret it," Yao warned, glaring at him with golden brown eyes. "And that includes you, Adnan."

Sadiq rolled his eyes, calling, "I didn't say anything." Yao glared at him, as if to snap at him to shut up. Sadiq waited for him to do something about it, but he just scrunched his nose at him and turned back to his clothes. Carlos gave Tim the middle finger before doing the same.

"Nice going, jackass," Sadiq said. He watched as Tim gave a slight shrug and innocently played with his lollipop. "You just _had _to drag me into that one—didn't you?"

He hummed, running his hands through his hair. "Don't blame me. Talking about your girlfriend was the thing that started it."

Sadiq slammed his hand against his locker. "Emilie's not my girlfriend," he snapped. He could feel the vibrations redden the area around the scab on his knuckles.

Tim hummed again, looking up at the ceiling. "Yeah right. Next you'll be telling me that I sell drugs."

"But you do."

He watched as Tim huffed and waved his hand. "You sound just like Mr. Wang," he complained. "If you guys keep claiming that I do that kind of stuff, Alice might actually believe it too." The blonde suddenly frowned. "Speaking of which, the pip-squeak isn't here today."

Sadiq absently nodded and started unlocking his locker. "Well, that's a shame," he said, turning the knob. It did not matter to him what Lovino's school attendance was. If the guy wasn't there, who was he to care? It meant less work for him to do.

"He hasn't been here all week." Tim solemnly stood and grabbed his arm just before he could turn to the last digit. He held it in place and leaned just a little- for privacy's sake. "This might mean some very bad things for you," he said.

Sadiq grimaced. He wondered how this looked to the other guys in the locker room: two going-nowhere seniors leaning into each other and talking quietly. "If you're going to talk to me, you're going to have to take a step back," he said.

Tim sighed and did as he was told. He pressed his back against the cool blue metal and, still holding Sadiq's arm, hissed, "I heard from a little birdy that if the guy is not here, then you can't go through with your side of the bargain. And if you can't go through with your side, how is this little birdy supposed to go through with his?"

Amid the loud noise of the boy's locker room —yelling, laughing, complaining –Sadiq could hear his heart stop. The bargain . . .

When Heracles was attending the local junior high school, the brothers had an agreement that Sadiq would walk down to him after school and they'll walk home together. Until then, Sadiq was so sure that Heravles was going to remain straight and clean. He was a smart boy and just because their father was a mess, it did not mean that they had to be. Sadiq had been so sure. That is, until he caught Tim.

Sadiq and Emilie had spent a little extra time after school that day, making plans for the weekend—a movie night supervised by her papa. After they parted ways, Sadiq took his time walking the few forest lined blocks to Heracles. When he found him, nearly an hour after their usual time, he saw that Tim and Heracles were in the at the back of the school, leaning against the brick building. Watching from a distance, Sadiq had first thought that they were simply talking to each other. Tim _was _smiling and Heracles _looked_ to be having a good time. "_He can handle himself," _Sadiq told himself. Still, Tim's reputation forced him to watch from a distance away.

Neither of the boys knew he was there. He watched as they talked for a few more minutes before Heracles pulled out his wallet. Sadiq could feel his trust in his brother drop when he saw him exchange a few twenties—most likely earned from that summer lawn mowing business Heracles and Kiku had –for a single little baggie. Sadiq could see that it was practically empty, save for a little something at the bottom that Heracles appeared really interested in.

Sadiq did not need to be told what that was. All around, his trust in Heracles burned into ashes. Obviously, the kid was still too naïve. Obviously, he could not take care of himself. Obviously, he was going to go down the wrong path. Obviously, Sadiq had to be a good older brother. Obviously, Sadiq had to do something.

He waited until his brother was leaving to go home to join him. They treated each other with the same cool distance Heracles was so fond of and walked home in silence. When they were finally there, Sadiq ordered Heracles to put his bag into his room and do his chores. Clear headed and full of brotherly duty, he stole the little crack-filled baggie and flushed the white, snow-like powder inside down the toilet.

After school the next day, Sadiq cornered Tim. After ramming him into a wall and punching his face a few times, he told him to keep his drugs away from his little brother. "I don't sell drugs," Tim simply replied, smiling his sadistic grin. "But I know a birdy that does and he might be willing to make a compromise."

In the end, the two men had a bargain. Tim's "birdy" would keep him and his associate's drugs away from Heracles on the condition that Sadiq did him a little favor. "He really does not like how that Carriedo kid—Lovino –is taking an interest in my sister," Tim had said. "So he would really appreciate it if someone made his life miserable, you know, to scare him away."

Neither of them made much mention of the incident afterwards. The next day, Sadiq simply made a point of meeting Lovino and outright bullying him. He called him names, shoved him into lockers, and stole from him whatever he could. But Lovino was not one to go out silently. After the first day, Lovino found ways to get revenge. He found even worse taunts to scream at Sadiq, he punched him when his anger over flowed, and even tried butchering Sadiq's chances of getting a work permit.

Whatever Sadiq did to him, Lovino would do worse. But no matter how aggravated he became, Sadiq never once tried to outdo Lovino. He did his part and he swore that he would never do worse. Mr. Muhammed did have to intervene a few times, demand that they leave each other alone. They eventually fell into a cycle of torturing each other, leaving each other alone long enough for Mr. Wang to not take notice, and return to the bullying.

A few times, it wasn't enough and they were sent to the principal's office. Lovino's father would bail him out while Mr. Muhammed assured Mr. Wang that Sadiq is worth keeping at the school. It was an endless cycle that often left Sadiq taxed and exhausted. But in the end, it was worth it. Drugs were never in Heracles's possession again- Sadiq searched his room and school bag to assure that.

He let Emilie draw her own conclusions as to what was going on. Every time she witnessed one of their incidents, she would demand that he dropped whatever rivalry or grudge he held against Lovino and move on, but he always told her no. Mr. Bonnefoy even offered to step in and stop the situation as best as he could, but he would always promise them that it was nothing serious.

He did call up Kiku—one of the few people that he trusted –and told him the situation. Kiku kept a closer eye on Heracles and made more after school plans with him. If he was messing up his life, Sadiq was sure that Kiku would find out and tell him. Kiku once asked him why he never confronted Heracles directly about the issue. Maybe if the two of them simply talked it through, they could reach an understanding and he no longer had to worry about anything.

"I can take care of it," was all Sadiq would say. Heracles was smart, but he obviously needed Sadiq to make sure that he did not become a tragic copy of their parents. Sadiq did not trust Heracles to take care of himself. So he will take care of Heracles for him.

Now, in the locker room, Sadiq harshly ripped his arm away. "I'll keep that in mind," he sneered, glaring Tim down. He had to take care of him.

Tim simply shrugged, as if to declare his job to be done. Stuffing his hands into his pocket, he turned on his heels and started to make his way outside. "Don't even bother dressing for gym today," he called. "I highly doubt the bastard's going to make us run."

Sadiq watched him go, wishing he could ram a knife into that slim back of his. "Dick," he muttered, turning to the last digit of his locker combination. He swung the door open with a loud _bang! _He pulled out his black shorts and white shirt and started unlacing his shoes. "One of these days, I'll—"

"You seem really upset."

Sadiq shrugged, saying, "You would be too if you had to—holy shit! Lovino, what the hell are you doing?"

The small boy standing above him tilted his head in confusion. "Lovino?" He echoed, looking at him with big brown eyes. "Why are you calling me that?" Sadiq starred. It was like he was looking at a child version of his long time enemy. 'Lovino's' face suddenly brightened and he started jumping up and down with excitement. "You must be confusing me for my brother!" He childishly squealed, sounding happier than what Sadiq thought normal. "This is so cool! I didn't know I looked like Lovi! That must mean that I must be really mature looking!"

His brows knitted together, Sadiq gave the boy a second look. He could suddenly see the difference between the two. The boy seemed dwarfed in what appeared to be an over-sized set of gym clothes. He and Lovino were still around the same height and built, but his face was whiter and his hair appeared lighter. He was definitely a Carriedo. "I didn't know that Lovino had a younger brother," Sadiq said dryly.

His smile only grew larger. "Yes, he does. I'm Feliciano!" He promptly held out a hand. "He doesn't talk about me much!" Feliciano chirped, seemingly taking pride in the idea.

Sadiq shrugged. "That's cool." He was more than ready to drop the conversation and let this Feliciano kid move on to the next guy. But for every second he did not take Feliciano's open hand, the kid grew more and more agitated. He impatiently shifted on his feet, looking down at him with expectant eyes. But Sadiq continued to ignore him, still favoring the difficulty of undoing a triple knotted lace to being friendly.

Suddenly, Feliciano jumped onto the bench-causing Sadiq to have a mini-heart attack -and crawled right into his face. Peering at him curiously, he asked, "Who are you, and how do you know my brother?"

Sadiq yelped and scrambled a few feet away. He had a hand on his pounding chest as he squirmed, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. What was he supposed to tell this kid? He was his older brother's tormentor and would probably burn in hell because of it? "I'm Sadiq and . . ." After a little gulp, he made a rash decision. "Lovino and I are friends."

Feliciano stared at him. His mouth was drawn into a frown, making him seem very much like Lovino. In fact, Sadiq was tempted to go back to believing that they were the exact same person. But as quickly as it came, the smile was back and Feliciano was happily rambling. "Really? He never talked about you before! This is great! I'm now friends with one of Lovi's friends. Maybe we can start hanging out together . . ."

"You and I are not friends," Sadiq growled, wishing that Emilie was here. Surely her motherly magic would allow her to penetrate some message into his head. Before anything other mistake could be said or done, the bell rang and everyone was dressed the leaving the locker room. Sadiq had only succeeded in untying his shoe lace.

"_Great, now it'll look like I listened to Tim's advice," _He mentally grumbled, redoing the knots and shoving his bag into his locker. He vaguely heard Feliciano ask if he had senior privileges that allow him to avoid dressing. He mumbled a few weak replies and he sulked out.

In the end, the bastard that Tim predicted wouldn't have them run assigned six laps around the track. Anyone who didn't do it had to clean the gym floor for a week. By school rules, anyone who didn't dress could not participate in class. Therefore, Sadiq and Tim had cleaning duty for a week.

"_At least I don't have to deal with Ivan," _Sadiq thought, watching the gym coach become stupefied over Feliciano's presence in his class. Sitting next to him, Tim sucked on his lollipop and leaned into the bench. "_But now I have to deal with this jackass. Great."_

* * *

**MW: **Did you know that when I wrote the first AN, it was clear out, but now it's raining. Welcome to the west coast everyone! As for this story, I really don't agree with this silly version of Feliciano, but it's so vital to the plot that I can't change it.

**SEK: **Kind of sucks, right?

**MW: **Yes it is. Remember to review everyone and don't do drugs.

**No Notes**

**Next Chapter: **Tim ends up being a total jerk to everyone and Ivan is noble about it.

**Remember to review! And avoid drugs! **


	5. The Punch

**MW: **Hey there! Sorry for the late update. Life's been kind of busy, but my drama competition is over (Iputallthateffortintogetting murderedandstuffandIdon'tevenplace?) and I should have more time now.

**SEK: **So this is where the plot finally appears fifteen minutes late with starbucks.

**MW: **Did you really just make that joke?

**SEK: **Well someone here has to be funny.

**MW: ***Sigh* I hope you all enjoy.

**Name Guide**

Maria Braginski- Ukraine

**Chapter Summary: **Sadiq and Tim get into an argument with some surprising consequences.

**Warnings: **Strong language, drug references, sexual themes—including vivid sexual descriptions, mild violence.

**Disclaimer: **This plot is the only baby I own.

* * *

**~Chapter 5~**

**The Punch**

* * *

The school gym was one of the few places of pride in the town. It was big with shiny wood floors and brand new basketball hoops. The bleachers were foldable and often they were pushed against the wall to allow sufficient space for town events. The basketball team would always complain how their training space was used every other day for other recreational activities like book clubs, town sports, dance performances- just to name a few. The gym was also one of the few places that barely changed since Alfred's death. It stood during his life as a center of life and activity and remained unshaved afterwards. The fire and falling ash had not affected the sanctuary at all.

To Sadiq, it was a comfort. Alfred was dead, burnt to a crisp. It was the first of November and he would have thought that by now people would start to understand that nothing they ever did would change that. Words and empty thoughts do not bring a person back. The gym seemed to be the only place where people understood that.

In a way, he guessed that was the reason why he did not mind his punishment all that much. The gym was a good place and cleaning it was one of the best "thank you"s he could give it. When Mr. Muhammed heard the news earlier that day, he offered to help negotiate a compromise with his P. E. teacher. The week he would have to spend cleaning was one week away from Ivan and their sessions. Sadiq had quickly refused, playing the I-deserved-this-punishment-and I-need-to-start-acting-like-an-adult ploy. After all, It was either clean for a week or be required to spend more time around the school's proclaimed murderer.

Mopping the floors was a worthy cause.

Having to mop them with Tim hanging off his shoulder, however, was not.

"You know, Adnan, I think you and I are finally starting to reach an understanding," the blond said, vigorously pushing his mop back and forth on the ground. As friendly as the words were, his tone was curt and serious. Never was there a smile on Tim's face that didn't come from the misfortune of others. "I've just felt as though you and I have really been misunderstanding each other for a while now."

Sadiq, carrying his own bucket and mop to the other side- _his _side -of the gym, only hummed an answer. He was trying his best to avoid any major conflicts with the prick. The bastard gym teacher was in his office in the boy's locker room. When he handed them their cleaning supplies, he made it quite clear that as long as the door that connected the gym to the locker was open, he could hear exactly what they were doing. "So you two better be working or else I'll add another week to the list," he warned, giving his two trouble makers a glare. Tim and Sadiq merely nodded as they both thought about how predictably incompetent he was.

"You know, Adnan, this will go by a lot quicker if you would just answer me," Tim said, pausing to watch him.

He hummed again before yawning loudly. "If you're bored, I'll give you more work to do!" A voice from the locker room yelled. Tim glared down the hall and ground his teeth together. Sadiq was sure that there were millions of things he wanted to yell back. It was taking most of his willpower to hold it back in and be a good little student.

Once he was sure that the bastard was not going to come out of his cave to check on them, Tim gently placed his mop on the ground and silently tiptoed his way to the locker room door. Sadiq, about to yawn again, noticed and forced it back down his throat. "_What the hell are you doing?_" He mouthed.

Tim placed a finger over his lips before carefully removing the door stopper. He coaxed it shut, trying to make the click of the handle as least noticeable as possible. Lucky for him, the bastard was already too absorbed his planning to notice.

He grinned and brushed his hands together. "Well that was a little easy," he declared, no longer worried about the noise level. "I kind of expected him to put a little bit more effort into our punishment instead of just trusting us."

Sadig shrugged. "He has to make his plays for the next game," he simply said. "Most of the football team sort of depends on those plays to get them scholarship offers."

He brushed it away, saying, "Yeah, like anyone here's going to get anything better than community." Tim hollowly laughed and placed two of his fingers at his mouth. He obviously wanted to smoke. Badly.

"No one wants to stay here forever," Sadiq said. He quickly covered his mouth as a long and loud yawn escaped him. "Oh Jesus."

"Long night, Adnan?" Tim asked, smirking as he suggestively quirked his brows. "Who did you spend it with? If it wasn't your girlfriend, I'm going to be pissed and strangely proud of you at the same time."

He groaned, "Emilie is _not _my girlfriend!"

"I never said she was, but thank you for informing me."

Sadiq banged his forehead against the mop, muttering every swear that he knew. He walked right into Tim's little trap that time. "For your information, I was working late last night," he said, his defeat slipping into his voice. "You'll be surprise of how many people want to eat out on Halloween. Do I even want to know what you did?"

He rolled his eyes before making the green irises shine with innocence. "I was just hanging out with my little birdy," he said. He meant that he sold a few drugs to a few middle scholars right under the nose of the police. "But you were seriously working? That's a shitty way to waste your Halloween. Did you at least get blowed?"

Sadiq's hands tightened around the staff. He could feel the curves of the wood through his sore, bubbling annoyance. "For the last time: all I did was work," he growled. "So would you just shut up about it already?"

Tim sighed, taking a long drag of his imaginary cigarette. "Fine then. Geez, calm your tits, I was just checking." Sadiq took a deep breath, banishing his anger far away. The scab on his knuckle was throbbing from his hot blood and he knew that it would only go away when he calmed himself. And Tim was going to lay off now, so there was no need to be angry, right?

Taking a long breath, Sadiq forced himself to return back to his work, laboriously moving his wet mop back and forth against the wood floors. They were shiny, reflecting his face right back at him. He looked as exhausted as he felt. There were dark circles under his half opened eyes. More than anything, he just wanted to lie down and sleep.

"Hey Adnan." He sighed as Tim called for attention again. This much conversation meant he was obviously bored, fishing for something to brighten the mood. Ignoring his job, he sat on the ground, asking, "Did you hear that rumor that's been going around?"

"Which one?"

"The one about that Ivan kid killing Alfred."

Sadiq's arms went dead. He stared down at himself, seeing worried eyes and a tight mouth. However, he quickly coughed and forced himself to continue moving the mop back and forth, back and forth. "Everyone's heard of it," he said, doing his best to sound natural. "Why does it matter to you?"

Tim shrugged, still holding his imaginary cigarette between his fingers. "I heard that Wang's forcing you and him to spend time together," he said. "I just wanted to know if he's some sort of psychopath or something."

He sighed, pausing in his strokes. Ivan was . . . odd. But no matter how he looked at it, calling him a psychopath would always be too much. Ivan was, however, aggravating. He took whatever chance he could to prove him wrong and he did it with a cheerful smile. Sadiq looked up at Tim and evenly met his gaze. "He's just a prick and nothing more."

"Well you have to be a prick to purposefully set someone's house on fire." Tim observed his nails with boredom, showing that he was done with this conversation. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Hey Adnan, can I have Emilie's number?"

Sadiq stiffen as his body grew rigid in fear. "Why?" He snapped, dropping his mop with a loud _clank!_

It was completely obvious how Tim was taking joy in his anger. There was a smile he failed to hide and a mischievous glint in his green eyes. Nonchalantly, he ran his fingers through his hair, saying, "I figured that since you and her aren't dating, I might as well take the opportunity to enjoy myself." His smirk deepened. "Who knows? Maybe the prude wouldn't be too bad at it." Sadiq clenched his fist. Just ignore him- he was only trying to aggravate him. "Just imagine it, Adnan: she's sprawled out on the bed, panties down, legs stretched far apart. Hell, she'll be wet and begging to be fucked when I rub that little clit of hers-"

"Shut up!" The echoes of the pounding of Sadiq's feet bounced off the gym walls, making them seem as loud as thunder. Growling, Sadiq roughly grabbed the collar of Tim's shirt, forcing him up onto his feet. "You better shut your fucking mouth right now jackass if you know what's good for you," He sneered, his hot breath puffing like fire onto Tim's face.

His smirk never left him. In fact, he seemed incredibly humored by the venom in Sadiq's words, the hot blood pounding in his temple. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Tim said. "I highly doubt that you would want a witness to rat you out to Wang."

Sadiq scowled and raised his fist. "The door's closed, jackass. There is no way he's going to know where your black eye came from."

He didn't even blink. "What about in the stands?" He asked. "Look." He lazily pointed to the farthest, most isolated corner away from them. Sadiq's eyes traveled up his arm and to the lonely boy in the corner. It took him a minute to realize that it was Matthew- silently watching them with big eyes and curiosity. "If you want to beat me up in front of him, then that's fine. It just means that I'll have someone to vouch for me that this was self-defense."

"I'm not so sure about that." Sadiq's head jerked from Matthew and to the brute at the door: Ivan. His hands were casually buried in his hoodie pocket as he started taking slow steps closer to them.

"What are you doing here, Braginski?" Sadiq asked, sending him a sharp glare. "None of this involves you."

Ivan sadly shook his head, a small smile on his visage. He said, "I think you're wrong there, Adnan. Everything in here concerns me."

"Tell it to someone who cares," Sadiq snapped. He immediately returned his attention to Tim, raising his scabbed fist a little higher. He had been waiting to beat the living daylights out of him since the moment he found him talking to Heracles. Heracles- his brother that he always needed to take care of.

"I know that you want to listen to me, Adnan," Ivan said. By now, he was within a few feet of him. He directed his smile down at the blond, silently promising to get Sadiq to set him free. "I won't bore you with a plea for humanity or any like that. But I can say this: it's really stupid of you to cave into a guy when we both know that he's doing it on purpose. So let's just be the better guy here and let him go."

Sadiq pressed his lips together. Ivan was right, of course. He knew that Tim was messing with him. He knew that he would only be doing what he wanted him to. Yet, if he let Tim go now, that would mean letting Ivan be right. There would be no way Ivan would ever let Sadiq forget it. Already, he could hear Ivan mock him for being as stupid as to think about hitting Tim in the first place. But in comparison, he would rather beat Tim than Ivan.

Reluctantly, Sadiq lowered his fist and released him. The blond dropped to the ground, still smiling as he smoothed back his shirt. "Well that was a pity," Tim said, picking himself off the ground.

Sadiq shot Ivan a glare, as if to tell him that this was what he was trying to avoid. The only thing the junior could do was shrug his shoulders and take a few steps back. "Why's that?" he asked, watching him carelessly brushed the dirt off of his pants before looking Sadiq straight in the eye. Sadiq returned it with every ounce of hatred he had for him.

Tim smirked. "I was being serious."

Sadiq punched him.

Instantly, Ivan lunged forward and grabbed Sadiq's arm. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He demanded, forcing the elder's arm back down at his side. Sadiq growled and tried to yank himself free, muttering swears and death threats. Tim had already messed around with Heracles; Sadiq was going to make sure that he stayed well away from Emilie. Ivan's eyes were blazing with frustration and determination when he said, "You are a freaking idiot!"

"You would have punched him too!" Sadiq snapped back, fruitlessly trying to yank his arm free. "Let go of me!"

"No!"

Tim screamed. It was long and shrill, piercing through the veils of Ivan's and Sadiq's argument. They both paused, turning to see him cradling his face in his hand like a child. When his yell was completely gone, he took a second to smirk at them both before screaming, "What the fuck! Why the hell did you fucking punch me?"

"Would you be quiet?" Ivan ordered, covering his ears with his hands. "A teacher's going to hear you."

Sadiq swore, stressfully running his hands across his face. He stomped his foot a few times, venting a fraction of his anger before saying, "Asshole- that's what he's trying to do!" Ivan looked down. It seemed to Sadiq that he was trying to reason with the events, figure out the consequences for himself. Sadiq already knew his. His temper would get him sent to the principal's office. Then after another long argument and lecture, he would be expelled for once and for all.

He buried his face in his hands. He muttered, "Shit. What about Hera-"

"What is going on here?" He breathed heavily when the coach finally came storming in, slamming the door open. His eyes slid over the scene, taking in the image of the two brutes of teenagers standing over one injured one. His eyes lingered on them carefully, asserting the immediate damage. "Nobody move," he sternly ordered, shooting a glare between him and Ivan. They both admitted defeat and stood their ground.

The coach quickly bent to Tim, talking quickly and hushly. Are you all right? Mostly. What happened? That bastard punched me in the jaw. Language, Mr. Van Rijin. Grumble. Now who hit you?

Sadiq sighed, more than ready to reap the seeds he planted. This was just another one of Tim's tricks, wasn't it? If he was gone, there would be no way he could continue terrorizing Lovino. His "little birdy" would have no reason _not _to keep his snowflakes away from Heracles. Everything he had worked for would go to waste.

"I did." Ivan dutifully took a small step forward, respectfully folding his hands in front of him. Sadiq stared at him. What? He opened his mouth, ready to object and take the blame, but Ivan continued speaking. "I came in here to find my friend when I heard him insulting this girl I like. We started arguing and I lost my temper."

"_He's taking the blame for me," _Sadiq realized, watching the coach eye the light haired kid with suspicion. He had no idea why Ivan would do that for him, but his whole story now depended on Tim backing up his claim. Steadily, he forced his brown eyes to meet his humored green ones. His trick was just thwarted by someone he barely talked to. Sadiq knew that he was thinking to himself about this change, why Ivan would take the blame for his enemy? It was a change of events he had not predicted.

And Tim relished in it.

Said pressed his lips. "_What are you going to do?"_

Rubbing his jaw, Tim closed his eyes and nodded. "You didn't have to fu-_freacking _beat me over it," he snapped, playing along. "You could have- oh, I don't know -listened to Adnan there and talked it out!"

The coach looked at Sadiq. The brunette was witty and sly when it came to remarks to his superiors, but lying was never something he liked doing. Yes, he had to lie to get out of a few run-ins with Mr. Wang, but he never enjoyed it. He always felt as though everything but his guilt was transparent. Quickly, Sadiq coughed into his fist, saying, "I kept on telling him that Tim was only messing with him, but he didn't listen."

"He was saying lewd things about a girl, Coach Spinster!" Ivan pleaded. "Do you really expect me to let him do something like that?"

The coach only frowned. Enough was enough. If you three boys don't have anything more to say, I'm going to take you guys to Mr. Wang's office now. Yes Mr. Van Rijin, you can go to the nurse as well. No Mr. Adnan, you have to stay here and testify. You're the only witness.

"_Only witness?" _Sadiq wondered, trailing behind the coach and students. Before he took his last step out of the immortal gym, he took one last glance at the bleachers. The lonely corner where Matthew sat was empty.

Sometime during their fight, the brother of Alfred F. Kirkland had disappeared.

* * *

The interrogation had not taken very long. All three of the boys supported the fake story of Ivan's temper and let Mr. Wang dish out a punishment for Ivan. All the while Mr. Muhammed tried to reason with him. "I think that we really can't blame Ivan for lashing out like that," the counselor said, respectfully folding his hands on his lap. "It's chivalry. A crude and unnecessarily violent form of it, but it's chivalry nonetheless."

Mr. Wang was no swayed. Along with a call home to his older sister, Ivan was sentenced to detention for a month on the days when he did not have his sessions. It was when all three were finally dismissed from the office did Sadiq the principal saying, "I told you, Gupta: those silly sessions are not going to work."

Sadiq knew that Mr. Muhammed would have a talk with him about this at their next lunch meeting.

Tim, Ivan, and Sadiq wordlessly went their separate ways. Sadiq did not care where the other two went; His mind was consumed with the fact that he was late for his shift. The thirty minute walk down the country road to downtown was cut in half by interval running. The long dead leaves were crushed under his feet and the pieces were picked up and carried around in the wind like ash.

By the time he arrived, he was panting and only an hour late. The bell at the door rang, causing Gilbert at the bar to raise his head. "You are very late," he said, eyes switching between his employee and the light crowd of diners. "Do you have an excuse?"

Sadiq grimaced, brushing his feet on the doormat. "Long story. Was there any trouble?"

Gilbert started sponging down the countertop, cleaning up after the teenagers with very messy fries. "The students were themselves today, but Elizaveta was able to handle it," he said. "And I would like to hear that 'long story' now or else I will cut your pay again."

Sadiq held back his sigh. Gilbert may be a relaxed boss, but he was still in charge. Sadiq had to do what he said. His sneakers squeaking on the checker tiles, Sadiq moved to the employee side of the counter, saying, "Long story short, I witnessed a fight and had to give a long report to the principal. Nothing much."

He frowned. "Really? That's it? And they couldn't let you go sooner?"

"If I could have, I would have."

Gilbert stared at him, looking just a little bit puzzled. There was something about that sentence that was hard for Gilbert to translate. The brunette pressed lips and repeated his words slower and clearer. His thin lips stretched in a forced grin as he chuckled. "I was obviously teasing you there," he lied. "But I think that I un-der-stand you now. You can start your shift now and I will tell Heinrich that you are here. You're cooking today."

Sadiq cracked a small, relieved smiled and hurried off to do what he was told. He quickly changed into his uniform and pulled a white apron over it. Cooking- that was what Sadiq wanted to do with his life. Stand at a stove and add sweet spices and salts to make the greatest food he could. Amazingly, it was by sheer chance that he was even able to cook at the Beilschmidt Dinner in the first place.

When Sadiq first started out working there, Gilbert did all of the cooking. He was not bad at it- sometimes he added just a little too much salt -but he was nothing worth talking about. One day when Heinrich was in the city, Gilbert's temperature sharply rose and he threw up before he could even touch the stove. The other waiter who worked with him at the time wanted to close the restaurant until Heinrich returned, but Gilbert thought differently. "Heinrich will kill me if I do that," he said, leaning over a bucket. "We can still do this. Is there any person here who cooks?"

Sadiq raised his hand.

Heinrich returned soon enough and the two Germans quickly realized that their newest employee had skill. Ever since then, they would sometimes order Sadiq to cook for food for the day. Yes, it was only simple burgers and soups. Yes, it was on days far and few, but it was a start and Sadiq embraced it.

When he was cooking, time had no longer had any meaning. Time seemed to have disappeared as he worked and the universe was only ruled by still frames. One instant, Sadiq was placing hamburger patties on the grill while he mixed the ingredients of a soup together. A blink of an eye later he was stopping to bake a few fries and steam the vegetables. His work was so simple, yet a smile never left his face.

The dinner crowd started to filter their way in, filling up the seats and loading him with orders. More snapshots of time passed as he placed the food on the plates for the Elizaveta and Gilbert to serve. The clock was just hitting half past five when he had a moment to breathe. Sadiq wiped his hands on a towel, glancing over his work. Everything was cooking and attended to. He could take a quick rest.

He stood oddly for a few moments, listening to the diners. He could hear small snippets of gossip, traces of the music from the speakers, and the light accent of Elizaveta's voice. Most of her shifts had been during school hours, the slow part of the day where she could make as many mistakes as needed. Today was her first day working with Sadiq. She gave him the order slip when asked and politely greeted him when she entered the kitchen. "_But how is she doing on the floor?" _ He wondered. His curiosity caused him to peer out the order window by the bar.

There she was- Elizaveta, politely smiling as she went to each party and asked about food and service. Her bun, white blouse, and black skirt made her look like a lawyer on her was to the courthouse. In fact, one would hardly believe she that she was even involved in the food industry if it wasn't for the black tray was tucked under her arm. Sadiq could tell by the way she held herself while she wrote down orders that she was not used to this kind of work. Her voice was kind and sweet, but she shifted painfully on her feet. One day it would occur to her not to wear black heels on a job that required a lot of standing.

Finished with her order, Elizaveta said another kind word before directly passing the window and going into the kitchen. Sadiq trailed her with his eyes, watching her swing the door open. "More work for me?" he asked as he gave a small smirk.

Elizaveta gave him a sweet smile in return as she tore out the order. "It's just a few drinks for now, Sadiq, I can handle it," she told him purposefully walking to the fridge. Her shoulders were held back like a soldier who was consumed with pride. "Though they're being a little indecisive about what to order."

Sadiq shrugged. "Give them time," he said. "The longer it takes for them to decide, the more they will drink, and the more money we will make."

She grimaced. "Did you learn that from Mr. Beilschmidt?"

"I learned it from common business sense." He frowned, watching her fruitlessly peer further and further behind the unopened bottles. "If you're looking for the Diet Coke, we're all out."

A harsh foreign word escaped her as she frustratedly slapped her leg. He observed her with curiosity as she scolded herself, balling her skirt in her fists. "I remember Mr. Beilschmidt telling me that!" She groaned, her accent making her voice sound chirpier than it should.

Sadiq wanted to pat her shoulder and gently ease her out of her pity, but he had to return to cooking before he overcooked the meats. Picking up his spatula, he flipped his hamburger patties, saying, "Don't get so worked up, you're still new to the job. You're bound to make a few mistakes."

"But it reflects badly on both of the Beilschmidts," she exclaimed, looking ready to pull her hair out. "They'll fire me for this and I cannot lose this job! If I do, he-"

"Believe it or not, but those two are pretty loose about everything." Sadiq lifted the done ones off and placed them on their respective buns. "That's probably why everyone's so loyal to them." When he turned to grab the lettuce, he was met with the most annoying sight of her giving the door a dreadful gaze. He sighed. Okay, she was a worrying pessimistic who had never waited before in her life, but still found this job to be the most important thing she had ever encountered. This was a disaster waiting to happen. Sadiq forced himself to keep his eyes on his work as he said, "Listen. Just admit to the party that you made a mistake and redo the order. No one will care and Gilbert and Heinrich will never find out. Simple as that, now stop feeling pitiful for yourself and go do it. They're waiting."

Elizaveta bit her lips. ". . . All right." Taking her notepad in hand, she cracked her neck. "Hopefully he wouldn't yell at me," she muttered as she walked out. "The kid looks as though he hates everyone in the world. . ."

Sadiq paused. He knew one person with that description. He turned. "Hey Elizaveta, is-" But she was already leaving. Sadiq quickly made sure that nothing would burn before returning to the window. There, at the booth in the far corner of the restaurant, was the Fernandez Carriedo family. And as he suspected, Lovino was the one with the faulty order. Sadiq watched the teen as he scowled, folding his hands over his chest as Elizaveta explained her mistake.

"_That's weird," _Sadiq thought, seeing Mr. Fernandez smile before happily encouraging his son to order a shake instead. "_He's been sick for a while now. So what is he doing here?" _That was when he noticed the other occupants of the table.

There was Mrs. Fernandez, a beautiful brunette whose cheerfulness matched the motherly look in her olive face. Sitting next to her, laughing and teasing Lovino, was Alice Van Rijin. After so many years of dating, it was hard not to consider her part of the family. The only person who ever seemed to reject that motion was Tim, but there was no stopping her. But there was one thing stopping Sadiq from letting it all go. "_Where's Feliciano?"_

The bell at the door rang and Sadiq tore his eyes away long enough to see a blond woman walk in. She was formally dressed in a pencil skirt and purple blouse, walking around comfortably in heels. It was obvious that she just got off work, probably from somewhere in the city. She the whites of her blue eyes were red from tears and her chest was heaving up and down in panic. Her gaze immediately locked with Mr. Fernandez's and he stood to greet her. "What's wrong, Maria?" the man asked, meeting her halfway across the restaurant. "You look very upset."

Sadiq glanced back at his food and realized that he needed to return to work. For the first time, he frowned as he started cooking again, tuning in the best he could into their conversation. "Do you know where Ivan is?," Maria said, not sounding even more panicked by the second. Sadiq nearly chopped off his finger. Ivan told him that his sister worked at the city's university and he knew that Lovino's father taught college Spanish. "The school said that Mr. Wang released him already and Nat has no idea where he went either."

"_Ivan's missing?" _Everything grew heavy. He barely heard the two teachers try to figure out where they could be. His ears were didn't hear Elizaveta when she came back in to fill her new order. It was as if he was smelling alcohol like he did at his first session again. Ivan was missing and Sadiq could not help but to feel responsible. There was no possible way for him _not _to be the cause. He was the one who punched Tim.

Sadiq owed Ivan and now he was missing.

"I still have to check the library, Starbucks, and so many other places," Maria said. Her voice quivered, but her strength was keeping her from the edge of actual tears. "Antonio, I know Ivan. He doesn't like getting in trouble. He wouldn't want to purposefully leave me worrying, especially after what Mr. Wang told me. I just need some help finding him."

"Of course, Maria. I . . ." He moved out of Sadiq's hearing range, voice barely above a muffle until suddenly returning. ". . . and if you see him, call me on my cell. Okay, Lovi?" The bell at the door chimed again and they were gone. Maria and Antonio- off to find Ivan.

Sadiq wanted to join them so badly.

"That was strange," Gilbert said as he pushed the door open with his hip. A tray stacked with plates occupied his hands. "I did not un-der-stand all that they said, but I think they said that a boy was missing." He looked at Sadiq, barely noticing Elizaveta was she silently slipped by with her drinks. "Am I right?"

Said absently nodded. "Yeah."

"That is sad. The woman should have called the police if she is so worried." Gilbert seemingly noticed the solemn look on the other's visage. He grinned, slapping Sadiq's back as he said, "I would not worry. He is probably hiding in a special place of comfort. You know what I mean, _ja?"_

It suddenly hit him. Sadiq blinked and looked at Gilbert with wide eyes. "Place of comfort," he repeated, barely believing the words. "Ivan told me that he liked going to the lake. That woman never said that she was going to check there."

He frowned, looking up as he translated. "I am not sure what you mean-"

"Excuse me. I'll be right back." Without much thought, Sadiq hurriedly ripped off his apron and handed it to his boss. His feet loudly pounded on the tiled floor as he ran out the back door and into the back alley. Sadiq quickly ran around the trashcans, brushing his hand along the wall for support. Cursing, he ran as quickly as he could onto the street. One of the perks of living in a small town as that it was easy to find someone. It took Sadiq a second to see Ivan's sister and Mr. Fernandez Carriedo fast walking to their first place of search.

Sadiq gulped, gathered his courage, and ran after them. "Ms. Braginski!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. They both stopped and turned back to him. Sadiq tried his best not to be discouraged by the criticizing look in Lovino's father's eyes. Instead, he focused in the curious gaze the woman gave him. When he was a few feet away, he slowed to a stop, asking, "Have you checked the lake yet?"

Ms. Braginski blinked. "The lake?" She repeated. Her blue eyes were wide a strange combination of confusion and anxiety. "Why wou-"

"Ivan told me once that it was his favorite place to go."

Mr. Fernandez shook his head, gently nudging the woman away. "Don't listen to him, Maria," he said. "That's the kid that's been getting at Lovino."

Sadiq frowned. "I wouldn't lie about something like this," he snapped. "I will bet my ass that that's where Ivan's hiding."

Still, Mr. Fernandez continued to ease her away, reminding her of all the places she had yet to check. Ms. Braginski looked conflicted, as if she was not sure whether or not she should believe him. There was no doubt in Sadiq's mind that if Lovino's father was not here, she would have been more than happy to agree with him. After a moment of silence, she brushed her colleague's hand away and gave Sadiq a sad look. "I really do appreciate your help," she said. "But I know my brother and he wouldn't go there. He's can't swim, you see. I actually think that he might be afraid of water. But if you see him, can you tell him to at least call me. I'm worried sick."

Sadiq forced himself to keep his mouth shut. His head felt hot with irritation. He wanted to yell at her for being an idiot- for not listening to him when he was obviously right -but told himself to let it go. At that point, there was nothing he could do. The teen muttered a small promise before letting Mr. Fernandez Carriedo drag her away.

He knew he was right. Ivan was at the lake, looking at the sunflowers. In Sadiq's mind, there was no other explanation. Sighing, he turned and looked down Main Street. If he took the short cut through the woods, he could make it to the lake in less than an hour- before dark.

A sense of duty consumed him. It was the same type that made Sadiq flush away his brother's drugs. It was the force that drove him to hit Tim. It was the devil that made him seek revenge against Ivan. But now, it was telling him to do something completely different.

Sadiq started down the road. Along the way, he took out his phone and dialed the number to Heinrich's office. "Hey Mr. Beilschmidt, it's Sadiq Adnan. I have some business to take care off, so I'm going to have to end my shift right now. I'll work a double shift later this week to make up for it. Yes, it is very important. Sorry."

* * *

**MW: **And that's what I call an abrupt ending. Kind of. Eh, even I have to admit that this chapter feels a little rushed. I'm sorry about that.

**SEK: **Can you at least get a snicker for trying?

**MW: **Maybe. Anyways, thank you all for reading.

**No Notes.**

**Next Chapter: **Sadiq goes off to find Ivan, but then runs into a rather unfortunate situation.


	6. The Toy

**MW: **Oh wow, I haven't updated in a month. How the heck did time go bye so quickly?

**SEK: **Well you did go on vacation.

**MW: **Right. Well, at least no one actually reads this story anyways.

(Just kidding, we love you all and we really are sorry for the long wait!)

**Chapter Summary: **Sadiq goes to the lake to find Ivan and ends up in a rather dangerous situation.

**Warnings: **Strong language, mold violence, drug and alcohol references.

**Disclaimer: **There is nothing I own.

* * *

**~Chapter 6~ **

**The Toy**

* * *

It was never safe to walk around the woods at night, even when the sunset was still giving off light. It was a lesson Sadiq and many of the other teens of the town learned when they were little. There were always the occasional group of rule breakers- Alfred was one of them -and they had to learn that lesson on their own. Everyone knew that it once the sun started setting in the sky, it was safer to stay out of the tall evergreens and remain in the open.

It felt so wrong for Sadiq to be defying that logic now. As the sky above him turned from blue to orange, he could not help but to feel afraid. The last time he ever hiked through the woods alone this late at night was when he was a little boy. It was the night after when he was nearly frostbitten- the night when the woman left. He had spent the majority of the day outside in the snow, occasionally running to the window to his father in the living room to repeat the same question: "When will Mommy be back?"

His father had lovingly hushed him every time, gently telling him to be careful when he played outside with Heracles. "We'll see, Sadiq. We'll see." Sadiq tried his best to play, be content with waiting. But the woman had never been gone for so long before. Rashly, Sadiq made a decision. He pulled on layers as many layers of coats, gloves, and mufflers he could before sneaking out into the snowy night.

His wandering took him into the woods. He walked for what felt like hours, trying to figure out his way to the big city. He constantly stopped to make sure that he could still move his fingers. They ached and the cold was only making it worse. Sadiq wanted to search forever, determined to find the woman. But he was a small child and children grow tired.

The next thing Sadiq remembered was that he was sitting on the ground, huddled against a tree trunk. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be warm. He wanted to be out of the clutches of the snow and into the warm embrace of his father's arms. Sadiq curled up into himself, sobbing into the crook of his knees.

"Hey there, kid."

When Sadiq looked up, he saw the face of a tall blond man. He smiled kindly down at him, holding a flashlight in one and hand offering him the other. A walkie-talkie buzzed at his belt, static voices unintelligibly reporting their status. "Are you Sadiq Adnan?" He asked, bending down to his height. Sadiq nodded numbly. The man's smiled seemed a little less forced as he started to take off one of his jackets. " That's good. The whole town's been looking for you, kid," he said. "You must be freezing. Here-" He handed him the green jacket. "-put this on."

Sadiq greedily took it from him, stiffly trying to force his numbed arms through the sleeves. The man helped him as he spoke into the walkie-talkie, saying something about finding a missing kid. "He doesn't seem to have frostbite," he said, zipping it up for him. "But he looks freezing. I'll bring him back in, over."

The man, later revealed to be someone named Denson, had Sadiq hold his hand and walk by his side. "You need to get your blood back flowing," he said. "Once you get tired, I'll carry you."

Sadiq had fallen asleep by the time they broke into the road. Later, when he was taken to the hospital, his father told him that Denson wanted him to keep the jacket. "He said that he wants to make sure you remember to never do that again," he said, observing the green cloth under his hands. "This is good quality too. You wouldn't be able to fit into this until you're much older though."

Sadiq still had the jacket- it was his favorite. Now, as his black sneakers crushed the damp leaves and twigs beneath him, Sadiq could not help but to miss it. True, if he had taken time to go back to his locker at the Beilschmidt Diner, he could have fetched it. But the thought never occurred to him. At that moment, the only thing on his mind was going to the lake and finding Ivan.

There were two ways to get to the lake: take one of the roads off of the freeway to the city or through the woods surrounding it. When on foot, it was easier and quicker to take the woods. The sun set in the west and the lake was towards the east. So Sadiq walked away from the light, further and further into the darkness. His feet hurt. He was panting. The occasional stray branch tore at his uniform. By the time the trees were thinning out, the sun was nearly gone and Sadiq's mouth was completely dry.

Sadiq stepped onto the sandy beach, looking out at the dark water. The lake was three miles around, narrow at some parts and fat at others. On the opposite end of where Sadiq stood were the private properties, people rich enough to own a lavish cabin on the shore. But here, on the public side, there were no people around. It was late and a week day. No one would want to be swimming in the frigid water at this time.

He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. There was no sign of Ivan on any of the horizons. But he had to be here- Sadiq knew that he was right. Ivan was somewhere here. The question was where. Sadiq, still trying to calm his breaths, racked his head for an idea. He knew that Ivan liked the lake because of the community garden, right? And he said that was on the west end of the lake. Double checking his position according to the sun, Sadiq walked towards the light.

It was silent, yet noisy all at once. There was not a soul in sight to create noise, yet there was a song in the air. There was the gentle sound of the water crashing onto the beach, birds cawing as they migrated for the winter, animals in the woods scurrying away from him, and his feet kicking up the sand. It was easier to walk in sand than in snow, Sadiq noticed. Snow appeared hard before easily engulfing his feet. Sand, on the other hand, was loose only when he kicked it. Stand on it and the little grains could support one perfectly. What a funny little world.

Sadiq did not need to walk for very long. The lake reached one of its narrow points and the beach and woods curved to accommodate it. Once Sadiq walked around it, he could see the rest of the lake and the city recreational buildings-like the community garden. But lucky for Sadiq, he did not need to walk that far.

Ivan sat at the edge of the beach, watching the rest of the sunset. His sneakers and socks sat at his side as his feet kissed the water. He seemed peaceful- curled up into his brown jacket. Sadiq suddenly felt very awkward. Now that he's found Ivan, what was he supposed to say? Should he scold him for making his sister worry? Pretend that he just randomly stumbled upon him? Are they friends or enemies? Should Sadiq even mention what happened at school today?

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to say hello?" Sadiq jumped, hearing Ivan's almost bored tone. He lazily peeled his eyes from the horizon and looked at Sadiq. "It's polite to greet someone, you know."

Sadiq took a deep breath and approached him. "It's polite to call your sister when you wouldn't be home. Don't you realize how worried she is right now?"

This time, Ivan was a bit more responsive. He snapped his head towards Sadiq, his brows raised. "Maria's worried about me?" He asked. "It's hasn't even been that long." Quickly, he searched his pockets for his phone, saying, "Why didn't she call- here it is." Ivan held it up. It was one of those new phones with a touch screen. Sadiq could not help but to feel a little jealous. He's hand the same phone since middle school. Even back then, it was not considered the latest model. Ivan zoned in on his phone, thumb flying over the surface, before muttering a swear. "Shit. It was on silent." He whistled. "Twenty missed calls."

Sadiq shook his head. "And it didn't occur to you that you should have called her in the first place?" He demanded hotly.

Ivan shrugged. "Well I know that she's a worrier, but I didn't think that she'd freak out _that_ much."

Sadiq felt some of his anger dissolve. Whenever he tried to scold Heracles, the kid would snap and hiss his defense. But Ivan didn't. Ivan was the one person who should have been, yet his tone was calm and neutral. His ability to be so relaxed about this made Sadiq's will weaken. Sadiq coughed into his hand, saying, "Just go call up your freaking sister already."

"No worries; I'm doing it right now. Don't get so worked up." Sadiq looked away from Ivan as he dialed the number. It felt intrusive to watch him talk on the phone. Sadiq stood, anxiously shifting from one foot to another. He absently picked at his scab, scratching away the black skin.

Ivan talked happily, only laughing when Maria panically spoke into her phone. "I'm fine, I'm just at the lake," he said. He nodded as he listened to her, ignoring Sadiq as he hissed in pain. The scab came off and the wound was bleeding again. "I know they don't grow during . . . Yeah, I'm on the beach . . . I just needed some time to think . . . Yes I have a friend with me-" Sadiq shot him a glare. "- I'll be home before nine. Bye."

Ivan sighed and pressed the end call button. "Everything's settled now," He declared, smiling brightly. "Maria knows where I am and I have the volume up so that I can hear her next time she calls. You can go now."

Sadiq buried his bleeding hand in his pocket. "Actually, you and me need to talk about something." Ivan looked up at him, regarding him indifferently. He frowned. "Why did you do it?"

Ivan cocked his head. "Do what?"

"You know exactly what I mean! You-" Sadiq stopped himself. He snapped that far too harshly. He closed his eyes and balled his fists, forcing his temper under control. It was like a flame in his skin, flaring at the slightest breath. After a moment, Sadiq opened his eyes and tensely tried again. "I mean at school today. You took the blame for hitting Tim. Why? You hate me. "

The junior shrugged. "It was a spur of the moment thing-"

"Bullshit." Sadiq took a tentative step towards Ivan, making the gap between them smaller. "Believe it or not, but I actually kind of get you now," he said. He thought back to every instance that young face smirked at him, cause his annoyance to spike. "You do everything for a reason and that's to benefit you. You took the blame for me because you think that it would result in something better for you. So tell me: what it is?"

Ivan traced circles on the sand, watching the fading light shade the grains a light gray color, like ash. His demeanor, Sadiq saw, was different as well. His light smile was replaced with a solemn frown. His brown hair brushed over his eyes and shadowed the rest of his face. "If I didn't take the blame, then you would have been expelled," he told him. "And if you got expelled, I would lose a friend."

Sadiq's frowned deepened. "I'm not your friend."

"Well, possible friend." Ivan looked up, looking at the last remains of the sunset through his hair. "I lost all of my old ones and I just can't seem to be able to make new ones," the boy explained. "This little game we're playing makes you the closest thing I have to a friend right now."

He huffed. "Really? Because I'm probably nothing more than a play toy to you."

Ivan shrugged, saying, "In my eyes you're still my friend."

Sadiq shook his head. "Friends don't mock each other like we do."

"But we listen to each other." Sadiq cocked an eyebrow, watching with curiosity as Ivan innocently played with the phone in his hands. "Don't be so surprised about it," he said, a small smirk rising up his face. "I listen to you. You told me to fix my grades and I did, didn't I?"

For a moment, Sadiq was not sure what to say. He was positive that Ivan's definition of a 'friend' was not one he wanted to embrace. Hell, he did not even want to be around the guy. Yet there was something pitiful about it. The only thing Sadiq wanted was for him to get better and get Mr. Wang off his back. Being his friend would make that easier for him. But Sadiq could see that there was more. It was as if Sadiq was searching for Ivan in a jungle and just when he finally found him, Sadiq saw that he was neck deep in quicksand. Every struggle made him sink lower and lower towards his death. Sooner or later, Ivan would be drowning them both on land.

Sadiq rubbed his hands over his face, muttering a string of swears. "You are impossible," he muttered, massaging the headache out of his head. "I really have no idea what I should say about that."

Ivan grinned. "You can say that you want to become my friend."

Sadiq looked back at him. "Here's another question: what happened to your old friends?"

"Which group?"

He blinked. "All- I guess."

Ivan hollowly laughed. "You're really trying here, aren't you?" Sadiq's only answer was a scowl. Ivan's smile slowly flickered back into a frown. He wrapped his arms around his legs, holding them closer to his chest. "Well my first group of friends had a little fall out a little after freshman year. We were all turning into different people with different interests and we just didn't have anything to talk about anymore. After that, I played a little football with Alfred and I hanged out with him and Yao and Carlos until he . . ." Ivan rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's been just me since."

Sadiq rolled his eyes. "And you just haven't been able to make friends again?"

"Kind of hard to when you're known as that guy who beat up the freshman." He wryly smiled. "I don't even know why I did that. I was just angry and he was an easy way to vent it."

The pity he felt towards him grew. He knew what that was like- venting anger through violence. He has to have Emilie hold his bag as he worked through it. He hurt her because of it. Then, there was his father, who. . .

"Everyone has different ways of venting anger," he told him, stiffly approaching him. Sadiq lowered himself next to Ivan, absently picking at his scab. "You and me, we like to fight away our anger. Others . . ." He bit his lip. No, he did not want to say that.

Ivan looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Others?" He asked. "What do others do?"

There was a lump in Sadiq's throat. It was huge and slimy and impossible to move. No breath to escape his mouth and no words could be spoken. The smell of alcohol was in his nose, making him want to gag. He closed his eyes. "You're only imagining it," He told himself. "There's nothing here." Ivan waited patiently as Sadiq took a few deep breaths. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he said, "Drink."

The air grew heavier. The sun sank lower into the sky, until it was nearly night. The two sat in silence, unsure of what to say. Sadiq was not even sure what was wrong with himself. Yes, he did not exactly tell Ivan that his father spent every night with a bottle of whiskey, but he might as well have. He would not be surprised if Ivan thought that he was the one sleeping on the couch as someone peeled away the half-empty bottle.

Sadiq's nail finally tore away the scab. A prickling pain shot up his hand as a new stream of blood trickled down it. It created little black dots on the sand, to stay there until the tide washes it away.

As Sadiq pressed his sleeve to the wound, Ivan ran his fingers through the sand, letting them fall through his fingers. He didn't seem to mind the blood latched onto him. "I suppose right now would be a bad time to admit that I feel cold," he muttered, barely loud enough for Sadiq to hear. He did not need to finish his sentence for Sadiq to know what he meant. He told him once that vodka always made him warm.

Sadiq's eyes narrowed. At that point, he was not sure whether or not Ivan said that to purposefully agitate him. If he did, then it worked marvelously. Sadiq clenched his fists, resisting the urge to hit him.

"Damnit, where the fuck is he?" Both of their heads shot to the right. There, at the narrow part of the lake, was a light. The woods covered the intruder from sight, though from the amount of voices, there were a few. They talked loudly, vulgarly complaining about the location and time.

"Are those your friends?" Ivan whispered, watching the light fight its way through the trees.

Sadiq shook his head. "No."

They were silent, listening to the men complain. A few of their voices sounded a little familiar- people from school -but it was nothing they were immediately concern about. They sat in silence for a minute, waiting from them to go away. But as the light continued to shine and their mouths continued to ramble, Sadiq could feel his skin prick with worry. It was practically night- what kind of people gather at a lake after dusk? He and Ivan pressed their lips as the men talked. A few snippets here and there gave Sadiq a worrying idea of what was going on: there was going to be some sort of deal tonight.

Ivan quickly slipped his shoes back onto his feet. "I'm going to go see who it is," he said, rising to his feet.

Sadiq frowned, hissing, "Idiot. You don't know who that can be!"

Ivan smirked. "All right Adnan just sit there like the pussy you are and let the real men do the work." As Sadiq growled and jumped to his feet with raised fist, Ivan merrily stuck out his tongue and silently trotted into the woods.

For a moment, Sadiq stood there in irritation. "_That idiot is going to get himself killed,"_ he thought, watching his figure disappear into the woods. The voices continued, raving on and on about their upcoming deal. They were waiting for someone. It was going to get dangerous. Sadiq groaned and followed after him.

Like Ivan, he did his best to avoid noise, but he was never a graceful person. Not that it mattered- the men's loud dialogues were enough to cover him. Sadiq slipped into the woods after Ivan. There, inside the dark mangle of trees and bushes, the younger squatted behind a bush, peeking out over the edge.

Sadiq looked up and saw that there were about six men, gathered on the beach a few yards away. Some were around his age- one, maybe younger -and others were in their early twenties. They waved around their flashlights as they spoke, sending the beams of light everywhere. "_That's where the lights were from,_" Sadiq realized.

"Psst." He looked down and saw Ivan frantically wave at him. "Get down," he hissed. "They can see you." Sadiq swore. Why didn't he realize that sooner? He quickly sat down next to Ivan, careful to avoid any kind of sound. "Do you recognize any of them?" Ivan asked, his eyes glued at the scene.

Sadiq looked at them again, recognizing a few familiar sweatshirts and statures. "Yeah, sort of. A few of them are in my class, though I don't- oh fuck. Those are the druggies." His heart pounded against his chest. "Braginski, they were talking about making a deal," Sadiq said. "They're going to buy drugs." Ivan immediately reached for his phone. Sadiq released a relieved breath. He was going to call the police.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, boys." Sadiq immediately tensed again.

His eyes shot back to the scene. Another man was entering from the trees, trailed by a posse of three others. All of the lights shot to him. The voice matched the body: Tim Van Rijin. His blond hair seemed as gray as the bag that hung off of his back. A cigarette stuck out of his mouth, a gray wisp of smoke seeping from it. His jaw, Sadiq saw, was purple. He could not help but to smile at it. One of those days, he was going to beat the crap out of him again. "I lost track of time."

The men swarmed Tim like bees. They flooded him with questions and stories, all relating to one thing: drugs. Sadiq placed a hand on his mouth and ducked completely under the bush. "_That's sick." _Behind his eyes, he could see the baggie of white powder being flushed down the toilet. Sadiq urgently hissed, "When are the cops coming?"

"Was I supposed to call them?"

Sadiq nearly screamed a swear. He slapped a hand over his mouth, keeping himself silent as he looked up at Ivan. The junior held his phone up, aiming it at the scene. He didn't look too concerned as Tim took plastic bags of green and white substance from his bag and started selling his load. Sadiq knitted his brows together. Sadiq shook his head. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

This time, Ivan looked down at him. "I'm filming it," he replied. "We can give it to the police."

"Why can't we just call the police in the first place?"

"The minute they hear the siren, they'll just scramble. Knowing Tim, he probably has some look out posted to inform them minutes ahead." Ivan smirked. "And besides, it'll be nice to have a little blackmail on him."

Sadiq growled, "So you're just doing this for yourself?"

Ivan shook his head. "I wouldn't necessarily call it that. More like I'm preparing for the future. But it really shouldn't surprise you, Adnan. I figured that at this point you would be well aware of how beneficial dirt on Tim would be."

"Ivan, you are evil."

This time, the junior smiled. "That's the first time you've ever really called me by my first name," he said. "Does that mean, we're-"

"What's that?" Ivan quickly ducked, pressing himself as close to the ground as possible. All of the flashlights shone in the direction, illuminating the trees around them. Sadiq could hear his blood in his ears. He placed a hand on his chest. He was breathing too loudly; they would hear him. "Who's there?" One of the druggies called out again.

It was silent for a long moment. Ivan held his phone against his chest. He seemed calm, though his eyes were darting to every part of the woods. They heard Tim laugh. "There's no one there, Anderson," he said. "It was probably just a squirrel."

Sadiq and Ivan looked at each other, cracking small smiles. Barely escaped that one.

A chorus of guitars filled the air.

For a moment, Sadiq just sat there, processing what was going on. There were guitars playing. Electric guitars, strumming away to a loud tune. Ivan yelped, fiddling with his phone. "Stupid Maria," he muttered, turning the ringer volume down. "Did you have to call now of all times?"

"You didn't turn your ring off?" Sadiq practically yelled. "You dumbass! Don't you realize what they're going to do to us?"

"I don't know, Adnan." They looked up and, to their horror, saw Tim. He loomed above them, the bright flashlights turning him into nothing more than a silhouette They could barely see the grin on his face when he asked, "What _am_ I going to do?"

"Run." Sadiq shot his hand upward, punching Tim in the face. As the blond clutched his face in pain, Sadiq grabbed Ivan's hand and started running. "Hurry!"

Ivan stumbled over his steps as they cleared the trees and returned to the beach. The moon, by now, was brighter and their only source of light. They could feel the flashlights on their backs as Tim's men screamed and shouted at them and each other. "Was it really necessary to hit him?" Ivan demanded, huffing to keep up. "Maybe we could have ta-"

A roar pierced the air. Sadiq faltered, forcing his legs to continue even though there was a ringing in his ears. It was not the kind that he was used to having- this one made it feel as though his ears were bleeding. Sadiq shook it out of his head, clearing it long enough to hear Tim yell, "Jesus Fucking Christ, Anderson! Don't use the fucking gun!"

"Gun?" Ivan repeated, a small shriek in his voice. He stumbled again, but Sadiq quickly pulled him back to pace. "Did he just shoot a fucking gun at us?"

"This is why I said to call the fucking police!" The other snapped. The gun shot gave them a new burst of adrenaline. The teens ran the mile down the beach, not stopping until their feet touched the parking lot. It was deserted, the street lamps illuminating the asphalt beneath their feet. The community center was at the other end, lights off and closed for the night.

As Ivan collapsed on the ground, huffing and puffing, Sadiq looked behind him. The beach was also deserted- their trail the only sign of life. Tim's men didn't follow them. Knowing Tim, he probably told them to run away after the gunshot. After all, he did not want any of his men arrested and rat him out to the police.

Sadiq placed his hands on his knees. His hands were shaking. He bent his legs, trying to regain his breath. His legs felt unstable. A tremor was pulsing through the blood in his veins. From head to toe, Sadiq was drenched in a thick layer of sweat. He forced himself to take slower breaths. Tears swelled to the corners of his eyes. "Calm down," he ordered softly, wiping his arm over his eyes. "They aren't going to get you now."

A chuckle echoed through the air. Sadiq looked at Ivan to see him sitting with bent knees, his large hands covering his face. Laughter was bubbling in his stomach, forcing its way out of his throat. It sounded like he was stuck between a girlish giggle and a painful choke. Sadiq frowned, rubbing his agitated knees. "What's so funny?" He demanded, sounding as tired as he felt. He was afraid to move and be faced with the creaking bones of an old man. Who knew being shot at made one feel so old?

Ivan did not move his hands. He held them up like a shield as he practically fell onto his side, giggling madly. "We're alive!" he exclaimed, rolling onto his back. Sadiq watched as he victoriously held his arms up to the sky, revealing tear streaked cheeks. "I'm fucking alive!" he yelled again, eyes tuned into the stars. Another strange laugh left him. "Fucking alive!"

Sadiq pressed his lips. "Can you not scream?" He asked, checking behind his back again. Like before, there was no one there. "We don't know who'll hear."

"Sadiq- we just survived getting shot at! How can you not be happy about it?"

"Well how can you be celebrating?" He hotly shot back. "Tim might still be around!"

Ivan snickered. "You are so pathetic," he muttered, placing his arms over his head. "Can't you just take a moment to enjoy?"

The brunette straightened, stretching his back as he went. He still felt incredibly agitated, like a wound up doll whose key had been turned one time too many. Checking his old phone for the time (it was around seven), he said, "Well here's a jolly old thought: that gunshot had to have been heard by someone in the cabins. That means that the police will be here soon and that can lead to some very big trouble for us."

Ivan huffed. "I have a friend in the force," he said. "I'll be fine."

He shook his head. "Well the force kind of hates people like me, so I'll be leaving now."

"That'll be more suspicious."

"Any more suspicious than someone laughing at the scene of the crime?"

The junior sighed. "Well if you want to be the stupid one, then go ahead. It's not as though I saved your ass from Wang earlier."

Sadiq shrugged, turning on his heels and faced the parking lot's exit. There laid the country road, an hour long walk back to town. It was lined with the forest, dark and abyss like. Soon, the only light will come from the moon or cars as they passed. The sight did not disturb him. In fact, it reminded Sadiq of the street his house was located, minus the street lamps. "Well I saved your ass from being shot, so let's call it even," he said, starting his journey home. "I'll see you tomo-"

"Does this mean that we're officially friends now?" Ivan asked, lifting his torso off the ground. He was obviously doing his best to sound neutral about it- like the answer meant nothing at all to him -he sounded uncomfortably unsure. "I mean, how many strangers just get shot at together?"

Sadiq paused in his steps, but did not turn around. His hands were buried deep in his pockets as he pondered. Ivan seemed dangerous to him. Someone who did everything for their own benefit was set on a course of betrayal. To Sadiq, that was not friendship. Friendship was what Emilie was to him- dependent, trusting, and caring. He always did his best to return it all back to her.

"You need help, Ivan," Sadiq said at last. He did not move at all, not even to glance at his listener. "And I'm here to help you. But I'm not your friend. You'll get one on your own. But you need to help yourself first. And if you're don't? Well, that just makes you pathetic in my eyes."

Sadiq walked away without waiting for a reply. Not that it mattered, Ivan never tried to answer.

* * *

**MW: **It's official: I cannot go a single story without sticking some sort of gun in there somewhere.

**SEK: **It's in your blood, honey. Don't worry too much about it.

**MW: **Right, commentary. Er . . . the plot's coming along nicely? New characters are set to come? Um . . . I know! I really just want to say that I love writing Ivan in this. I don't know why, but I love writing those manipulative characters. Though, I guess you really couldn't say that he's manipulative. I'll just shut up right now.

**Next Chapter: **The next day, Sadiq and Ivan must face the consequences of their little adventure.

**Thank you for reading!**


	7. The Video

**MW: **This probably would have come out like a day earlier today if I wasn't in the middle of a pun war with my friend during the time I set aside to put this up yesterday.

**SEK: **Really? You'll delay a whole chapter for a pun?

**MW: **There can only be one. Anyways, thank you to anyone who has made it this far in the story. I just want to say that I do like this chapter since it does set up a very important part of the story, though it's nothing compared to the next chapter. I know that I really shouldn't say that, but I feel as though I should.

I hope you all enjoy!

**Chapter Summary: **Sadiq's plans to skip school are thwarted as a crisis emerges.

**Warnings: **Strong language, sexual references, drugs, and mild violence.

**Disclaimer: **I still do not own Hetalia.

* * *

**~Chapter 7~**

**The Video **

* * *

Two days shy of being the four month mark of Alfred's death, Sadiq could wholeheartedly agree that Friday morning that he should not go to school. As he curled up in the blankets of his soft bed, he reminded himself of all of the crazy things he did the night before. The buzz of the leftover adrenaline from the gunshots made it nearly impossible for him to lay down to rest. And, even now, Sadiq could hear the ringing in his ears.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! _

Sadiq yelped, shooting straight up in his bed. His brown eyes darted crazily around his room, trying to find the weapon that caused it. The streaks of light that fought its way through the window blinds illuminated traces of his room. Everything from his dresser to the clothes on the carpet floor was safe. The banging- Sadiq now realized was knocking -sounded again. "Oy! Jerk-face!" Heracles grudgingly called from the other side of his door. "Dad says get up!"

Sadiq's heart jumped another notch. Yes, his father spent his evenings dancing with a bottle of bourbon or whiskey or whatever suited his fancy, but he was still a working man. Normally, he would be all sobered-up for the morning, in time to commute to the city for work. Usually it was so early that his sons never saw his prime shape, but there were times where one ran early or the other ran late.

More than anything, Sadiq dreaded those times. It meant that he had to pretend that he was not intoxicated by the perpetual smell of alcohol that lingered in the air. It meant that he had to resist slapping the man and yelling about how much he missed Mom too. It meant that he had to smile and act as though everything was perfect in their little hell hole.

Falling back into his pillows, he released a long sigh. "Tell him that I'm not going to school today," Sadiq said, doing his best to make his voice croak. "I'm sick."

He could hear Heracles hesitate. Whenever the younger claimed that he was sick, Sadiq would bust into his room with a thermometer and a doubtful spirit. If he was not convinced, Heracles would be dragged out of bed by the legs and forced down the road to school. If he was, then he would call in sick too and take care of him like a nursemaid.

At last, Heracles sighed. "Fine then, lazy ass-" Sadiq could hear him walking away. "-Dad, he says that he's sick."

The front door opened and his father's warm voice filled the world. "Really? Maybe I should go up and check up on him . . ." Sadiq quickly wrapped the blankets around him, blood pounding in his temple. No, he was not going to be visited by _that _man. He cringed with each heavy step up the stairs. One, two, three, four- A small beeping noise stopped it. Sadiq waited in trepidation as he heard his father swear, presumingly at his wrist watch. "Shit, late." The steps retreated. "Heracles, remind me to check up on your brother when I get home tonight."

The sound of the front door closing was the most satisfying noise in the world.

After Heracles left with Kiku for school, Sadiq curled up in his bed and slept away most of the day. For the first hour or so, his phone would buzz from texts from either Gilbert or Emilie. One reminding him that his bag was still in his locker and the others asking where he was. Eventually, he threw his phone across the room and into a pile of clothes against a wall. He could still hear it, but now the buzzing was far quieter.

The next time he opened his eyes, it was noon and the phone was still going off. Groaning, he flipped onto his side and held his pillow to his ears. Even though there was still a tired crust around his eyes, sleep evaded him. "_It's the light," _he decided, feeling the warmth of the sun as it streaked through the blinds and onto his face. Stiffly, he swung his feet off the bed and dragged his feet to the window. Yawning, he pulled the string of the blinds, snapping the wood and blocking the light. He scratched his head, feeling as though he could sleep for a few more hours.

He didn't notice the phone again until he turned back to his bed.

The screen of his phone gave off a dim, but noticeable light. Cradled in dirty shirts and jeans, it declared that he had over thirty unread messages. Sadiq dropped his shoulders and bent down to it. It was probably Gilbert, testing out new English words. He was about to leave it as that when the phone buzzed again, this time flashing Emilie's phone number under the little text message envelope.

He did not hesitate to pick it up. All of the messages, he saw, were from the girl, starting from when he was supposed to meet her before school started to the middle of lunch. At first, she seemed rather calm, merely asking out of curiosity. He smirked when he read a message from her saying that Kiku told her that he was sick. But they grew more worried. It was her motherly senses talking, demanding to know what he was sick with, what his symptoms were, and how what he was doing to treat himself.

Then, around the time of their cooking class, it occurred to her that he was faking it. _You always text me when you're sick, _she wrote._ So you're either dead or doing something really stupid right now. _

He sighed, watching her spiral into a pit of concern-made desperation. He was around text number twenty when the tone changed drastically. _Sadiq, I need you here. _Heart pounding, he flipped through the last ten or so, reading similar pleads. Every one was different, each sent within minutes of the other. _. _

Finally, Sadiq reached the one she just sent. His eyes barely skimmed over it before he dropped his phone and hurriedly rushed to pull his clothes on. He had to get to school now. He knew that by the time he got there, lunch and P.E. would be over and Mr. Kirkland's English class would be the only thing left. After pulling on an old pair of jeans and a red shirt, Sadiq grabbed his phone and texted Gilbert and Heinrich, telling them that he was coming over to grab his neglected school bag and jacket.

He tried not to reread the words on Emilie's last text: _Sadiq, please come. It's Ivan._

* * *

"You're late, Mr. Adnan." Sadiq blinked, as if realizing the first time that he was walking into his English classroom- 7th period. Plain exhaustion made his vision blurry. He ran all the way down to the Beilschmidt Diner, grabbed his stuff, before immediately running the thirty minute walk to school. All of it had drained his energy, making him feel very much like an old man. Heck, Sadiq was positive that he and Mr. Kirkland were sporting similar sets of dark circles under their eyes.

Limply holding his bag in hand, he resisted a yawn as all of the students watched him. A few snickered at his messy clothes, but most were just as sleepy as he was. They could care less whether or not his bright red shirt conflicted with his usual green jacket. Mr. Kirkland, however, was far from uncaring. Peering through his reading glasses, he gave him an irritated look, drilling his fingers on his podium. He was perched on a stool at the front of the classroom, the text book opened before him. Notes on the whiteboard revealed something about a man turning into a bug, but it was far beyond Sadiq's interest.

He dragged his feet to the teacher and handed him his white tardy slip, saying, "Sorry, I slept in late."

"So late that it's nearly the end of school?" The class chuckled as the slip was viciously ripped from his hands. Sadiq flinched, causing many to give him crazy looks. For a moment, he thought he heard the gunshot again. The very thought of how he nearly lost his life the night before made a warm shiver gush through his blood. Mr. Kirkland quickly read it before tucking it under his book. "Very good, Mr. Adnan. We're talking about last night's reading: the first part of _The Metamorphosis. _You did read it, yes?"

Sadiq sighed and shook his head. He didn't have his bag, hence his homework. Even if he did, he was sure his nerves would never have allowed him to sit down long enough to do it.

Mr. Kirkland scowled. "That was very irresponsible of you," he said, marking something in his little black grade book. "You know, I read that story to Matthew and Alfred when they were little and they . . ." He stopped himself. The whole class suddenly felt awkward. Everyone averted their gazes as Mr. Kirkland closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sadiq shifted nervously on his feet, seriously wondering whether or not he should excuse himself and go sit down.

A wry smile stretched across the teacher's face. "Actually, Matthew really hates this story," he said, forcing himself to return back to the lesson normally. "I think the idea of a man turning into a bug scared him a little too much." He chuckled. "Alfred loved it though. He liked bugs- that kid."

Sadiq scratched his neck. "I'm going to go to my seat now," he muttered before retreating down the rows. The curious eyes of his classmates pricked his skin, making him hunch a bit as he slinked down into his desk. Luckily, Mr. Kirkland was continuing on with his lecture and no one could ask him any embarrassing questions. Still, he wanted to look away, hide from the truth that he helped to cause the unsettling moment. Instead, he forced himself to look up and look at Emilie. She was sitting quietly in her desk by his, nervously picking at her nails. Whether or not it was from Ivan or Alfred, he did not know. He tried to flash her a reassuring smile- a promise that everything was going to be okay, but his mouth refused to cooperate.

Sadiq did his best not to slouch as the lecture continued, the tale of a man who became a vermin passing right over his head. Sadiq covered his mouth as he yawned. His eyelids felt heavy, like he could fall asleep at any moment. "_I shouldn't have run all the way to the diner," _he decided, trying to remind himself to stay awake for Emilie. Attentiveness was a sign of caring, right? But his eyes finally shut. "_Damnit, I'll just . . ."_

Sadiq knew that he fell asleep. How else could he have spaced out at the part about a wailing girl and return to a certain blond one shaking him? "Get up Sadiq. Class is over." He immediately shot awake, eyes darting to every corner of the room. The end of the school day bell had rung and now every student was casually filing out of the room, chatting and gossiping with friends. His neck ached in more than one place. Sadiq closed his eyes and sighed. Figures- he fell asleep upright. His waker, Emilie, nudged his shoulder again. "Keep your eyes open," she ordered, pulling on his jacket. A few of the lingering students shook their heads at them and made their way out. "And hurry up. We need to talk."

He frowned. His friend was dressed in a pair of white skinny jeans, a red coat over her beige shirt. No obvious signs of damage- no crusted blood on her mother's ring. "What happened?" He asked, rising to his feet. "Did Ivan . . ." He reached for her.

He barely moved an inch when she stopped him. Cautiously, she pointed to the bandage on his knuckles, asking, "What did you do to your hand?" Sadiq quickly buried it into his pocket. Emilie irritably sighed. "Sadiq! I told you not to pick at it!"

"Well I'm sorry, but that's not important as-"

"Emilie. Mr. Adnan." He sighed as she respectfully turned to her uncle. Mr. Kirkland sat at his desk, eyes trained on his work. "I would greatly appreciate it if you two would kindly make it to your next class in time," he said.

Emilie immediately switched to a strained, but caring smile. "No worries, Uncle Artie," she said. "School's over now."

"I would rather you both went on your way and left me to my work in peace then," he replied, not even bothering to look up at her. His cold aura was disturbing, even to Sadiq. Mr. Kirkland was a hard man, but he was once softer to family. "I have many papers to grade tonight."

Emilie tried not to sound disappointed. She quickly reinforced the plastered smile on her face as she waved to Mr. Kirkland. "All right then, bye Uncle Artie. I'm sorry for disturbing you." He mumbled a vague reply. He was already too absorbed in his work to give her a second regard. Again, she tried to look happy. "Be safe." This time, he did not even bother replying.

Shaking her head, the girl grabbed Sadiq's hand and led him out.

Sadiq looked down at it and scowled. "Why are you doing that?" he asked.

She swung the door open and pulled him into the hall, saying, "Just making sure that you go out safe."

He rolled his eyes. "Stop being a girl scout and tell me what the hell is going on."

"Ha-ha, I'm laughing." She stopped in her tracks, causing Sadiq to nearly crash into her, but he was luckily able to step away in time. He gave her an annoyed look and opened his mouth to object, but she stopped him. Motioning for him to be quiet, Emilie reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Many of the still hurrying students cursed them as they tried to navigate through the hall around them. None of them seemed to hear Sadiq when he called out his apologies. "There is one minute until the bell rings and your detention with Coach Spinster starts," Emilie said at last, stuffing her phone away. Sadiq cursed. He had forgotten about that. "You have until that time to tell me the real reason why you tried skipping today."

"There isn't enough time for that" Sadiq snapped, furrowing his eyebrows. There was a spiteful sting in his voice. "Emilie, what happened-"

"Forty seconds."

He sighed, looking down at his sneakers. "I really did sleep in late," he admitted, wanting to desperately pick at his scab. But it was hidden under the bandage in the hand Emilie held. He took a deep breath, willing himself to say, "I met Ivan last night. At the lake."

"You did? Why-"

"And we both ended up walking in on one of Tim's drugs deals. I think that getting shot at is enough of an excuse of not wanting to go to school. I also left my bag at the diner, so-"

She shook her head, holding up a single finger. "Hold it. You're saying that you were _shot _at yesterday?" When he confirmed it, the girl pressed her lips and stomped her foot. Her cheeks were turning red and steam seemed to be whistling from her ears. She asked, "Did you call the police?"

He shook his head.

"Why?"

Sadiq shrugged. "I wanted to, but Ivan had other plans-"

"What about afterwards?"

He winced, knowing quite well how badly she was going to take it. "Well, I didn't." Again, she asked him why. He scratched his neck, feeling the sweat gather at the base of his hair. "I really don't know. I just didn't want to get into trouble."

The school bell finally rang and class was starting, but both of them were far from caring. All Sadiq wanted was for his friend to calm down and think it out rationally. Apparently, all she wanted was for him to gain a little common sense. "You were at the wrong place at the wrong time!" She practically yelled. She immediately stopped herself and looked around hesitatingly. She knew better than to let anyone over hear them. She stood on her tippy toes, making sure that Sadiq could hear her as she whispered, "You did nothing wrong!"

He shook his head. "The police don't like people like me. If I didn't fire that gun, they would have found some other reason to arrest me. And besides, I bet someone else did it for me."

"But you were there! Someone might think that you're trying to hide something and then you'll really be in trouble!"

"Hello Sadiq."

They jumped, noticing for the first time that Ivan was standing by them. Emilie looked between him and Sadiq for a moment before realizing that she was chest to chest with her childhood friend. As she slinked away, a glaring Sadiq dropped his bag and marched straight up to him. Today, Ivan wore a button up gray shirt. His hair was neatly combed and his cheerful smile came natural. Obviously, he did not spend the night in insomnia like Sadiq.

Sadiq felt no guilt when he roughly grabbed his collar, sneering, "What the hell did you do to Emilie, jackass?"

The girl grimaced. "Calm down, Sadiq," she ordered, nervously patting the air. Her eyes frantically switched between the two, suddenly looking very distressed. "If you would just-"

Ivan barely blinked before dropping his smile. Even though his eyes were hard, the eternal chirpiness never left his voice as he explained, "I didn't do anything wrong. I just asked her to be my friend."

For a moment, no one said anything. Emilie scratched the back of her head and adjusted her glasses a few times. A tiny smirk played on Ivan's face as he watched Sadiq's knuckles turn white. Sadiq's eyebrow twitched. He could not help but to remember the final words he spoke to Ivan the previous night. He told Ivan that he thought he was pathetic. "_Is this some kind of revenge?" _He wondered, looking down in simmering anger. But he did not want act rashly without being sure he had the right story.

Sadiq took a deep, tense breath as he slowly glanced out at Emilie. In a low growl, he asked, "Emilie . . . is that why you dragged my ass here? Ivan wanted to be friends?"

She twisted the ring on her finger, contritely pressing her lips together. "You were pretending to be sick and I knew that you were," she said softly. "And I needed a way to get you to come here."

Ivan, unfortunately, shook his head. "That wasn't very nice of you," he dryly commented. Sadiq yanked on his shirt again, hissing for him to be quiet.

"You are not the innocent one here!" The girl continued, pointing a sharp finger at the junior. The ring on her fist glinted under the sun light from the windows. "Sadiq, he followed me around all day, trying to get me to answer yes. He even tried coming into the bathrooms with me!"

Before Sadiq could inflict any form of painful punishment, Ivan raised his hand in the air, yelling, "It's not like that! She dropped her phone and I thought that I would give it back to her! I mean, there are stalls in there so I figured that it wouldn't matter much!"

Sadiq was not sure whether or not he should believe him. The phone story was logical, but what kind of an idiot thought that it would be a good idea to go into the girl's bathrooms? Again, he needed confirmation before action. Holding him much tighter, Sadiq shifted his glare back to Emilie. "Well?"

Reluctantly, she looked down and dropped her shoulders. "It fell out of my pocket after I texted you. Sadiq, can we please just let it go now?" She asked. "I wanted you to come to school and I got it. That's it- end of story."

He didn't want to let go of Ivan yet. The fact was that Sadiq knew how Emilie really felt, even if she never said it aloud. She was scared of the strange brute who would follow her around all day. She really did want him to come and help her. She would never have asked him to come otherwise- the girl was particular with her requests. But now her concern was no longer for herself, but for Sadiq. If any teacher saw him like that- holding another student so roughly -there would be the ever looming chance of his expulsion.

For the sake of Emilie, Sadiq finally shoved him away. Ivan stumbled a few steps back, rubbing his sore neck. "You stay away from Emilie, Braginsky," Sadiq ordered, jabbing a finger in the other's face. "Lay a single finger on her, and I swear that I'll-"

"Unfortunately for you, it'll work to my benefit if she's my friend." Ivan turned to Emilie and grinned. And there it was: the consequences of last night. Sadig balled his fists, promising himself to throw a few punches if Ivan ever tried to hurt Emilie. "So do you want to-"

Luckily, Emilie pressed her lips together, trying to look as polite as possible. "No thanks. I-"

"Ivan, Sadiq, Emilie?" All three immediately turned to see Mr. Muhammed approaching them, a black binder tucked under his arm. His dark eyes were switching between each one, trying to decipher the scene he walked in on. For the first time in a long time, the counselor's presence made Sadiq nervous. How much of that did he see? Can Mr. Muhammed tell that he was shot at yesterday? Could he smell the gunpowder on his clothes? His father's alcohol?

Ivan, however, smiled gratciously. "Hello Mr. Muhammed," he greeted brightly. "How are you today?" He pointed at Sadiq. "Look who finally decided to show up."

He shot Ivan a glare. The bastard- putting him on the spot like that! Was he just trying to make sure that they all got into trouble? Mr. Muhammed, however, only raised an eyebrow. "You weren't here earlier?" he asked.

Sadiq opened his mouth, prepared to simply let the first lie that he could think of tumble out of his mouth. Emilie, however, popped up right next to him, flashing a special smile she saved only for her father's colleagues- an even mixture of respect and sociability. "Sadiq's feel a little down in the dumps today," she said. "Sore throat. Can't really talk, but he wanted to be here for his detention, you know?"

Sadiq wanted to cry, "_Thank you Emilie. You are a lifesaver." _However, Mr. Muhammed was still here and he still had an act to put on. He placed a hand on his throat and rubbed it painfully, wincing from imaginary sores.

The adult frowned. "If you're sick, then you shouldn't he here," he scolded, taking his binder into his hand. "Rest will be the only thing that'll make you feel better." He looked around, as if noting for the first time that he was alone in a hallway with three students. "There I something that I need to talk to you and Ivan about. Let's go to my office—"

"Can't we do it here?" Ivan asked quickly with pleading eyes. Sadiq gave him a weird look. Why would he want that? Was it part of his big plan? "I mean—it's not like anyone's around. Well, Emilie's here, but we don't mind. Right, Sadiq?" Sadiq quickly nodded. Might as well go with his plan.

Mr. Muhammed grimaced, as if feeling Sadiq's painful doubt. "All right then . . ." He opened his binder, flipping to a predetermined page. "Sadiq, I know that you're very content with handling the consequences of your own decisions, but the incident yesterday has made Mr. Wang very nervous. I know that you both have detention right now, but if we don't start showing Mr. Wang the fruits of your sessions together, then he will stop them and your privilege to attend this school will be in his hands. So I would like to offer this to both of you again: would either of you like for me to make a deal with your teachers so that you no longer have to go to detention and your sessions can continue without delay?"

Sadiq and Ivan both stood dumbly. Ivan, for once, did not expect to hear that. The wideness of his eyes made it look as though whatever plan he had was shattered, that it was all based on the idea of him having detention. Sadiq, meanwhile, had no idea what to think. After what happened with Tim, he was positive that he did not want to spend more time than what was necessary with him. At the same time, he was positive that he did not want to be with Ivan. "_But I need to know why he has to involve Emilie into this._"

With a reluctant sigh, Sadiq closed his eyes and nodded.

Ivan cracked a small and gentle smile before voicing an agreement.

Mr. Muhammed lips curled upward, just in the slightest bit. He was never the one to smile outright- he would rather look stoic as much as possible. "I'm glad that you both are agreeing on something," he said, snapping his binder shut. "I'll go arrange everything right now. I know that you two would rather have the afternoon to yourselves, but I would personally appreciate it if you guys tried talking to each other- even if it's just for a few minutes."

Ivan gave a wary look, as if ready to decline when Emilie took a step in front of him. "No worries, Mr. Muhammed," she said graciously, flicking her chestnut locks. "I'll make sure that the boys do something productive."

The counselor laughed. "You are so sweet, Emilie. Just like your father and mother." Her graciousness faded into a bitter-sweet air. "I'll be seeing all three of you soon," he said, walking away. "Have a nice weekend."

Emilie smiled. "You too-"

Before Sadiq could stop him, Ivan grabbed her arm. She let out a small yelp of surprise before Ivan pressed a finger to his lips. Hush. Sadiq growled, already rolling up his sleeves. "Braginski, wha-" Ivan aimed his finger at him, sending him a hard look. Hush.

"Come with me," he whispered, soft enough for only them to hear. "Muhammed is still in the area." Sadiq quickly glance behind him and, sure enough, he could still see his favorite adult's retreating back. Ivan grabbed his arm and ignored the protests as he dragged them in the opposite direction.

Down the hall and a flight of stairs- the two childhood friends trusting the strange junior. Ivan pulled determinedly pulled them ahead, ignoring all of the strange looks the remaining students gave them. At last, he led them through the double doors and to the back of the school. It was November and the sun was starting to set earlier and earlier each night. Already, it was low in the sky, two hours from sunset.

Ivan glanced around, making sure that they were alone before releasing a long sigh. "Finally," he breathed, bending over and placing both hands on his knees. "You can never know who just might be watching."

Sadiq frowned and pulled Emilie behind him. She gave him an offended look, as if to demand that he let her take care of herself, but she did not complain. Sadiq glared at Ivan, grinding his teeth together as he asked, "Why the hell did you drag us all the way down here?"

Ivan shrugged. "Because people could over hear us inside."

Sadiq balled his fist. Quick to spot danger, Emilie grabbed his hand and forced a not-so-relaxed grin. "That's not what he meant," she said kindly. "I think Sadiq and I both want to know what was so secretive that you couldn't say it inside."

Ivan shrugged. "I just wanted to ask again if you wanted to be my friend." He looked at his feet, frowning as a glint of melancholy filled his eyes. "I wouldn't blame you if you still said no," he muttered. "Even Sadiq doesn't like me . . ."

Emilie sighed. To her, he must have looked like a sad and neglected little puppy. Taking pity, she placed a hand on her chest and said, "I really don't think asking someone outright is the best way to make a friend, but I'm willing to give you a chance."

Sadiq's mouth dropped as he gave her a shocked visage. He stumbled over his words, trying to vocalize everything that was wrong with that decision. She didn't seem to notice; all of her focus was consumed with the fact that Ivan found it necessary to wrapped her in a large bear hug. His arms engulfed the small girl as he held her close, smothering her face in his chest. He ignored her surprise sounds as he lifted her off her feet, excitedly thanking her and promising that they'll have a great time together. Overall, his mood was a light, sugary joy.

His face, however, was drawn. There was still a small amount of joy in it, like a truly was happy for his fortune, but it was masked by triumphance. Ivan's eyes never left Sadiq's as he did his little dance, communicating a simple message: Ivan was better. Sadiq gave him the challenge of making a new friend and he did. He was able to make an ally of Sadiq's most trusted companion. Not only that, but he was still able to achieve it even though he followed her into the bathrooms.

"_I'm able to bend her to my very will," _Ivan's eyes said as he finally placed Emilie back on the ground. "_Does that still make me pathic?"_

Sadiq fists returned. Once again, Ivan made him walk in a circle. Every time he thought he was actually getting somewhere, Ivan would add a new twist that would send him back to square one. The brunette's anger simmered beneath his skin, making his jacket almost too unbearable to keep on.

Emilie chuckled, nervously straightening her glasses and combing her hands through her hair. "Well that was unexpected," she laughed lightly, looking at Ivan with a kind look. "I-"

"You know, Emilie, I really didn't see that one coming either." Sadiq snapped around, bending his knees into a fighting stance when he saw him. There, leaning against the corner of the building, was Tim. His hands were folded over his chest, a cigarette dancing on his lips. His eye and chin were both blue and black from the punches that Sadiq gave him yesterday.

Sadiq could not help but to smile at that. It felt good: seeing the damage he created.

Ivan smiled, a fake facade to cover the irritation in his air. "What are you doing here?" he asked, nudging Emilie farther away from the blond. Sadiq protectively pulled her closer to him, realizing for the first time that if they did break into a fight, she would be involved. That was definitely the one thing he did not want.

Shrugging. Tim kicked off the wall, burying his hands into his pockets. "Let's not play stupid, Braginsky," he sneered, striding towards them. "You know exactly what I want."

Both Sadiq and Ivan tensed. The video- he wanted the video that Ivan taped on his phone. Emilie, however, knitted her eyebrows and looked up at him. "What is he talking about?" she whispered, loud enough for only Sadiq to hear. Her blue eyes were shining in a silent sign of fright. He pressed his lips and shook his head.

Ivan, meanwhile, did his best to feign ignorance. "I'm not quite sure what you're talking about," he said as Tim finally stopped right in front of him, their breasts barely touching as they gave hard, even glares. He cracked a small smirk. "Are you sure that you've got the right person?"

Now, the corners of Tim's lips pulled themselves into a smirk. "No, I don't." Ivan barely had a second to realize the trap he had walked right into before Tim struck him. He right hooked him in the stomach, causing him clutch his gut and resist barfing. Sadiq quickly pushed Emilie back before raising his own fist. Foolishly, he ran straight to Ivan's assailant, grunting as he prepared himself to strike with all his might. Tim stepped aside and held out his leg.

Sadq stupidly tripped, crashing into Ivan's back. There was a flash of confusion and pain. Sadiq yelped, seeing nothing but white. It took him until him a few moments of blinking to even realize that not only were his arms and legs tangled with Ivan's, but his head was stuck between the grass and the other's back. "Shit . . ." He muttered, blinking away the haze. "Get off of me, Braginsky!"

"Step away from me!"

Sadiq blinked again. That was Emilie. Swearing, he shoved Ivan off of him and scrambled to his feet. Tim was standing a respectful foot away from her, but there was a wolfish grin on his face. He regarded Sadiq lazily. His green eyes spoke all of the words that needed to be said. "_Remember the gym yesterday?" _they sneered. "_The prude could be good at sex."_

The eldest of the Adnan boys took a deep breath. Calmly, he ordered, "Come here, Emilie."

Holding her clammy hands on her chest, she gave him a bewildered- scared -look. Wide-eyed, she glanced up at Tim. Now he was nonchalantly observing his nails, peeling away the long ones. Emilie swallowed before quickly dashing over to Sadiq, taking his hand and hiding behind him. Tim made no move to stop her.

Breathing heavily, she pressed her lips, asking, "What the heck is going on here?" Sadiq hurriedly nudged her further behind him, whispering something about explaining it later. But she refused to budge, determinedly shaking her head. He cursed her will. Why did she always have to _try _to help everyone?

"I'm making a point." Sadiq jerked back to Tim. He still hadn't moved from his spot. The only difference was that he was now entertaining himself with his cigarette. A white cloud of smoke streamed from his lips as he chuckled, saying, "In a minute, I was able to take both Ivan and you, Sadiq, out. If I wanted to, I could have taken your girlfriend right there and then."

Emilie held her friend's hand tighter. It was sweaty. "A-and why didn't you?" she asked, desperately trying to hide her emotions. But her mask was breaking and it was apparent how terrified she truly was.

Tim smirked, tapping the cigarette until the burnt butt fell quietly onto the earth. "Because I don't need it. What I need is that video. You see, my little birdy told me that-"

"Well you can tell your little birdy that he's out of luck." Ivan slowly rose to his feet, grimacing from pain. From the way he held his side, it was safe to say that his abdomen was bruised the wrong way. However, compared to what the other hand was doing, it was nothing remarkable. Ivan held up his phone, playing the video of the drug deal on silent. He grinned as Tim paled. "I know someone who's in the local force and he would do anything to get his hands on this. But you're in luck since I have a few demands that will keep this video far away from them."

Sadiq knitted his eyebrows, mouth forming an 'o'. "_What is he doing . . ."_

"As we all know, you are a drug dealer, Tim Van Rjin. I will make this very clear: keep your drugs, hands, and croonies away from my sister; and this tape will never see the light of day. Release Sadiq from his deal to bully Lovino and this tape will never be touched again. Keep the drugs away from his brother and I will seriously consider deleting this. Keep your hands off of Emilie and we won't kick your ass. The moment any of this is violated, you're going to have the police at your door. Clear?"

It was the first time Sadiq had ever seen Tim look so defeated. His was pallid and sweat darkened his hair. His hands were uselessly clenched as his wide eyes fruitlessly searched for a loop-hole. For once, he was defeated. Ivan had outsmarted him, held a larger threat over his head. But Tim did not show it well. He forced himself to wryly smile, digging his hands into his pockets. "Well Braginsky, you play a hard game," he said, spitting out his cigarette. It landed at the tip of his converse. "But that doesn't matter-" He stomped it, angrily extinguishing the embers. "I will get that video." He started to walk away.

Sadiq waited until he was around the corner to breathe. His shoulder slouched as he placed two hands on his knees. "Oh my God, did that really just happened?"

"Are you okay?" Sadiq grinned, prepared to answer Emilie when he realized that she was not at his side. Frowning, he turned to see her fretting over Ivan, lifting up his shirt to check his stomach for bruises. The smug look on Ivan's face only made the sharp pain in his chest worsen.

Ivan chuckled, sticking his phone back into his pocket. "I'm all right," he said. "I'm just glad that he didn't hurt you." He looked at Sadiq, smiling just a little bit wider. "Nice falling there, Sadiq. I thought that you might win the gold for that one."

Sadiq's eyebrow twitched. Resisting the strong urge to punch him in the face, he took a breath and replied, "You know, if you want to be my friend, you're going to have to be nicer."

He gave a perplexed look. "Really? Alfred and Yao did this to each other all the time and they were inseparable."

"No relationship is exactly the same," Emilie chimed, finally pulling down the shirt. "I don't think you hurt anything major, but it's going to bruise." She rose to her feet, at last giving Sadiq a kind smile. "I think that you both were very brave back there. Though . . ." She looked down. "You didn't have to protect me."

Sadiq scowled. "You were scared," he said, stepping to her. He placed a hand on her head. "There's nothing wrong with that." When she looked up, he was expecting her to give him a thankful look, a gentle smile to grace his aching body, but when she did reveal her face, it was drawn. He slipped his hand uselessly down at his side, realizing that amount of scolding she was going to give him. She truly did act like his mother.

Crossly, she placed her hands on her hips. "Why didn't you tell me that the only reason you picked on Lovino was because of Tim?" she harshly demanded. "I could have helped you get out of it!"

For a moment, he did nothing but open and close his mouth like a fish. Then, "I needed to protect Heracles, he- wait a second." He pointed a finger at Ivan. "How the hell did you know about my deal with him?"

Ivan shrugged. "I figured it out a while ago."

He sent him a dark glare. "How?"

Another shrug. "Asked around for a bit. But are you two doing anything this afternoon?" he asked, keeping up with his content visage.

Emilie shook her head. Sadiq was forced to agree. "I don't have work today," he said. "Why?"

The junior looked up at the sky, as if expecting snow to suddenly fall down in gentle layers. In a way, Sadiq could almost see Ivan being lost in it- his hair color was certainly light enough to mimic it. "You'll find out soon enough," he said softly. "Say- have you ever heard of the Densons?"

* * *

**MW: **And this chapter is finally done. Hopefully that wasn't too boring. Can anyone guess who the Densons are. I've used their name for characters before.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoyed.

**Next Chapter: **Sadiq, Emilie, and Ivan go to meet the Densons.

**Thanks for making it this far. I know this really hasn't been all that interesting. **


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